A charitable swimmer who took up the challenge of completing a 21-mile challenge has raised £1,500.
Harlow resident and local Salvation Army Major, Karen Sandford, has swam the width of the English channel in a paddling pool in her back garden.
Karen began the monumental challenge 62 days ago; this week she hit her goal after swimming for a total of 30 hours and three minutes.
Beginning the challenge in April, Karen faced all the infamous English weather had to throw at her – with pool temperatures measuring from 11 to 23 degrees coupled with rain, wind and sunshine. Initially Karen set out to raise £500 but she has since tripled that and to date has raised over £1,500 for the Harlow Salvation Army Corps.
Karen said: “I can’t believe it – when I first started swimming in the pool I only wanted to swim 10km – I’ve now completed over 34km!
Karen swam the width of the English channel in a paddling pool in her garden
“For us, lockdown began a little earlier than for everyone else because my husband had symptoms of the virus. It was a real challenge not to be out and about meeting, seeing, and helping not only members of our congregation but the wider community, as well as regularly swimming with Team Pants at Redricks Lake. But since then my husband has recovered and we’re back on the ground being able to help those who need our support the most during these difficult times.
“Swimming the width of the channel in what is a fairly small pool tethered to my washing line has certainly been a challenge and had its ups and downs. But I want to say a huge thank you to everyone who has supported me, and to everyone who has donated to the cause. We’ve raised a fantastic amount of money which will such a help as we’re still unable to raise money through our normal routes, such as renting our hall space. We can’t wait until we’re able to be reunited with everyone hopefully soon but until then, thank you.”
You can still donate to Karen’s Just Giving page to help her raise even more funds for the Salvation Army by visiting: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/harlow-corps-the-salvation-army1?
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