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Maggie Hodgart of Maybole attempted to swim the English Channel Friday, 15 August. She swam for more than seven hours but ended short of her goal. For the whole story read her blog Maggie Hodgart (nee Kidd) became the second Scottish woman to swim the English Channel on the 23rd of July 1987 and is one of only 2 women ever to swim the Irish Channel. After 15 years out of the water she has been training for a few months and hopes to swim the English Channel again on the 3rd of August next year 2008, 21yrs after her first crossing!
"I
am swimming to raise money for
Asdas Breast Cancer Charity, Tickled
Pink and am hoping to raise a lot of funds for it. (Donations to
the charity can be made using the form in the left hand column
below.) The cost of
hiring a support boat to take me across the channel is £2000 and I
am looking for local businesses to help towards the cost and in
return I am willing to advertise their company in any way I can e.g..
name printed on swimcap, newspaper, banner on boat, Maybole website etc.
If you can help with a sponsorship please contact me. Maggie Hodgart My first English Channel swim took me 14hrs 15mins and I finished at Cap Blanc Nez 8 miles along the coast from the finishing point of Cap Griz Nez. I had been in the water just over 11hrs and had half a mile to go but the tide turned and I was swept along the coast so my 22 mile channel swim turned into 30 miles and I finished at 1:05 am in pitch darkness. So next August I really want to either start in the dark or really early in the morning so I can finish in daylight. Why do I want to take on such a challenge as swimming the channel again? At the beginning of July this year I spent 10 days in Crosshouse hospital with pancreatis and gallstones and I think it has made me to turn my life around. I have had 15 years out of swimming and I now really want to get fit again and lose weight. After coming out of hospital I started going to swimming again and really enjoyed it and decided now my kids are a bit older and I have time to train again I was going to go back down to Dover and have another shot of the channel. I decided to raise donations for Tickled Pink (breast cancer charity) because my best friend Jackie has just had a mastectomy and also a woman I'm friends with who goes to the same gym as I do has just been diagnosed with breast cancer and she has just had her first lot of chemotherapy. She has kids the same age as mine. My ex husbands aunt also had a mastectomy a few years ago and when I was in hospital I was in the same ward as two women who were both getting a mastectomy. It affects far too many women of all ages. My mum died from throat cancer 5 years ago. I recently had my first training session in the sea and really enjoyed it surprisingly enough, but the water was cold ! Just now I am doing 4 training sessions a week in the pool and 5 training sessions in the gym a week, as I am at Kilmarnock College full time doing an HNC in computer programming. I think this channel crossing will be a totally different experience this time to when I did it 20 years ago. 1.) I will be 21yrs older 2.) My mum and dad were both on the boat supporting me the last time and this time it will be my kids 3.) I want to raise a lot of money for cancer 4.) If I make it across I will be the only Scot to have done it twice. The date for my swim is the 3rd of August which is actually my 42nd birthday but obviously if the weather isn't good I will be going the nearest date after that. Maggie " |
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