Sedgemoor pals ready for 36-HOUR non-stop swim (From This is The West Country)

Sedgemoor pals ready for 36-HOUR non-stop swim

4:17pm Thursday 21st March 2013 in News By Matthew Colledge

“THERE wasn’t a challenge tough enough for us so we had to make one up”.

That’s how fearless fundraiser Greg Kyd has described the incredible 36-HOUR charity swim he is taking on with childhood friend Richard Hill.

The 25-year-olds, who developed their love for swimming as youngsters at Bridgwater Swimming Club, are heading back to the water for an epic fundraising challenge they believe is unprecedented anywhere in the world.

Greg, from Cossington, who works for the Somerset Rural Youth Project, and Richard, a personal trainer from Cannington, will swim in bursts averaging ten minutes for a continuous 36-hour period.

They will do so in relay, meaning one will be in the pool while the other recovers.

The challenge, starting at Strode Pool at 7am on May 29 and finishing at 7pm the following day, is to raise money for Cancer Research UK and the SRYP.

Greg said: “We are always looking for challenges. I recently ran the Cheddar Gorge Marathon, which is regarded as the toughest marathon in Britain, and Richard’s done marathons and a couple of 100-mile bike rides.

“This is going to be harder by a long way.

“There wasn’t an event that had been created that we felt was tough enough so we had to create one.”

He added: “We were originally thinking of doing a 24-hour swim. We asked a few people and they said they thought it be very hard, but possible.

“So we then decided to do 36 hours, which nobody thinks we’ll be able to do.

“The general consensus from our family is that they are not hugely surprised at what we are doing but they think we’re stupid.

“We don’t know what the toughest part will be – the fact we can’t eat anything while we’re burning a ridiculous amount of calories, the tiredness, or the cold, from constantly getting in and out of the pool.

“We’ve even had a few academics interested in studying us, because there have been suggestions we might go crazy!”

To support their challenge, click here.