Local swimmers take the plunge to cross the North Channel in aid of Action Cancer

The group, which has called themselves ‘Ocean Synergy’ and includes people from Lisburn, Dunmurry, Moira, and Lurgan, are part of the Lough Neagh Monster Dunkers that swim in Lough Neagh at Oxford Island.

Gail Pedlow, who lives in Broomhedge, explained how the group, which also include Anne-Marie Coleman, Denis O’Neill, Jessika Robson, Sarah Girvan and Lesley Glenn, decided to take on the charitable challenge.

"The idea came after a training camp in Majorca last year,” explained Gail. “The relay was initially booked with Infinity Channel Swimming, who do all the North Channel crossings amongst others, by Denis and then the team was put together based on who was interested and their ability.

"I may have had to pester a couple of people until they said yes!”

The team range in age from just 17 up to 58 but everyone shares a passion for swimming. Some of the group are also club swimmers and part of Dots Swimming Club in South Lakes in Craigavon

“We’ve a varied age range in our team, our youngest is 17,” said Gail. “Jessika Robson swims for Lisburn Amateur Swimming Club and is actually swimming the North Channel herself as a solo in August this year. This relay is really just a warm up for her. She is already a marathon swimmer for all the age of her and she has a massive future in the sport.

"The age goes right up to 58 so very varied and that’s what makes us special, we all have the same love for swimming.”

The group are no strangers to the cold water and they have been busy training in local waters.

"Our group dunks at Oxford Island all year round,” continued Gail. “it’s a skins only group which means no wetsuits are allowed and this is actually really good training in itself to acclimatise to the cold temperatures as the temp of the North Channel will be between 10 and 13C.

"Aside from the cold we’ve swam all winter in the pool, Lough and sea as much as possible.

"We all had to complete a two hour qualifier in the open water before they’d even let us go forward for the North Channel and that was hard as most of us have never swam for that long in the open water.

"We all swim in rotation for an hour at a time until we finish and we would ideally like to finish between 11-14 hours although with unpredictable tides and currents it sometimes doesn’t go to plan.

“We are all very excited to get going, we have trained really hard and this is a mammoth undertaking for most of us and well out of the comfort zone.”

The team have a small window of opportunity to take on the challenge and they are hoping for favourable weather all the way.

"Our window opens on June 24 and between then and July 2 we will get the go ahead from Infinity at any moment, so we have to be ready to drop everything and go,” continued Gail.

"It’s all based on weather, tides, currents, there are lots of different factors. We are also all nervous, the North Channel is one of the most difficult crossings, it’s part of the bigger Oceans Seven marathon swimming challenge which is swimming equivalent to the Seven Summits mountaineering challenge.

"The North Channel is one of the most difficult because of its strong tides, the colder temperatures and the dreaded Lions mane jellyfish which is terrifying all of us the most. We have swam in lots of different conditions and are well used to the cold but we aren’t ready to face those stingy jellyfish.

"This is one of the most difficult ocean crossings and we are attempting it starting at Donaghadee and finishing at Portpatrick in Scotland."

The team decided to take on the watery challenge in aid of Action Cancer as everyone in the group has been touched in some way by the cruel disease.

"We are doing it for Action Cancer because we basically all have lost somebody close to cancer and so we wanted to choose a cancer charity,” Gail explained.

“Because Action Cancer is a Northern Ireland based charity at least we knew the money is staying close to home.

"My Dad passed away 10 years ago this year to cancer and from his diagnosis to his passing was only six weeks which is very difficult for a family to prepare for.

"Action Cancer are at the forefront of the prevention and detection of cancer as well as supporting those living with cancer and their families. Their work is invaluable.”

The group are hoping to raise £3,450 for the charity and they are already over 80% of the way to their total, having raised a fantastic

£2,887 so far.

If you would like to find out more about the North Channel challenge, or make a donation, visit the group’s Just Giving page at https://www.justgiving.com/page/ocean-synergy.

In Northern Ireland someone receives a cancer diagnosis every hour of every day and one in two of us will receive a cancer diagnosis in our lifetime. While cancer rates are on the increase, early detection and improved treatments mean that survival rates are improving.

Find out more about the work of Action Cancer, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, by visiting their website at https://actioncancer.org/.