A DETERMINED all-women swimming team from Deal Tri Club are training hard in preparation for a cross-Channel relay swim this summer in aid of the Breast Cancer Care charity.

The seven ladies, who all live in the Deal and Dover area, are doing two training sessions a week off Kingsdown and one in Dover Harbour, under the guidance of former Royal Marines swimming coach Charlie Laws.

Hence the team’s decision to call themselves Charlie’s Channel Chicks.

Jo Malpass captains the team of Mo Ovenden, Debbie Harris, Kelly O’Sullivan, Kathryn Hewitt, Emma Perkins and reserve Alla Cassidy. Jo has already completed a successful relay swim two years ago with a mixed team, raising more than £1,000 for the Kent Air Ambulance.

She said: “As this is an all-ladies team we decided that this time the Breast Cancer Care should be the designated charity.

“I lost my mother to breast cancer when she was only 40 years old and another team member’s mother has recently been suffering from the disease, so we all feel very strongly towards this charity.”

The swim is scheduled to take place any time from the last week in July, depending on weather and sea conditions. The team will set off from Shakespeare’s Beach in Dover, with each member swimming for an hour before the next swimmer takes over.

Mr Laws said: “The six swimmers must perform the relay in strict rotation. If one of them can’t go back in the water, for whatever reason, then that’s it, it’s finished. Sea sickness, for example, can be a problem.

"When you are not swimming you are sitting in the boat, which, because it’s small, can bob about a bit, especially if it’s a bit choppy. So you need your sea legs as well.

“Hopefully, they will complete the crossing in about 15 to 16 hours, but a lot depends on the conditions on the day. Apart from the tides and the currents, the water in the Channel is so cold.

“The temperature doesn’t get much above 17 or 18 degrees and when you are out in the middle it’s down to about 14 or 15. So that’s why they started training last month, when it was about 11 to 12 degrees!”

Swimming the Channel remains one of the biggest challenges that any swimmer can take on, with Mr Laws describing it as “the Mount Everest of the swimming world”.

Last year, 63 swimmers from all over the world tried their luck at completing the 22-mile crossing, with only 40 making it to the French coast.

Another Deal Tri member, Sophie Mitchinson, from Dover, will attempt a solo crossing next month. She too is under the wing of Mr Laws, who has 13 years’ experience in the art of coaching cross-Channel swimmers.

He said: “I admire all the girls for taking on this tough challenge and it will be wonderful if they can do it, especially as it’s for such a worthwhile cause.”

*Any individual or company who would like to sponsor Charlie’s Channel Chicks for their cross-Channel swim can ring Jo Malpass on 07793 824995.