I’ve just written a blog over on the Team Brophy site about what my experience was on the support boat as Brophy accomplished the challenge of a lifetime! Only hope I got the sheer epicness of the accomplishment across, it truly was amazing.
EDIT:
You can also see an adaptation of my blog post on the Leukaemia And Lymphoma Research site here.
After over 2 years of training, Ben’s English Channel swim is finally upon us. We’ve been given the go ahead and have just left the shores of Dover to start a swim which could take anywhere from 14 to 24 hours (I think Ben will be aiming for 17)!
I’m sitting in the support boat for that period, ensuring that Matt Neilson and myself keep the camera rolling to capture this challenge. I admit, spending so long on a boat in the middle of the channel isn’t my ideal day out, however I can’t complain when I’m the one in the boat, rather than the poor guy swimming alongside it.
I wish Ben all the best for his swim. I have no doubt he can make it across, with the huge amount of training and dedication he has put into this. Whatever happens though, he’s managed to raise a huge amount for Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research, and he should be really proud of that.
You will be able to follow Ben’s progress using the map at this link showing the position of the boat. You can also donate towards the reason Ben’s doing this crazy thing at justgiving.com/teambrophy.
I have had a fantastic year on placement at Majestic-12, one which I’ve enjoyed far too much for it to be called work, and seemed to go far too quickly (where did the last year go?!). Unfortunately I had to leave at some point before going back for the dreaded final year of my course. Heard a lot about it from this years graduates, sounds like quite a bit of work!
My monitor when I turned up on my last day. As I arrive far too early, to get in before me and stick this on was quite an achievement!
Every one of the people over at Majestic have been fantastic over the last year, providing me with tonnes of new skills and knowledge, some bits of which had more technical/professional application that others! Not only that, but they really created an environment which was so much fun, all adding up to a job I enjoyed so much that I actually got out of bed early to get there, now that’s an achievement! Massive thanks to every one of them, and I wish them all the best.
However, leaving my placement behind isn’t all bad. Over the rest of August, I will be following my friend Ben around like a hawk, capturing his final few weeks before his big channel swim to raise money for Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research (LLR). Expect to see many more pictures, tweets and video blogs over on the Team Brophy site as I’ll be stalking him constantly between now and the swim (yes Ben, you won’t be able to get rid of me!).
It will be a busy month, however as anyone who knows me will realise I don’t mind the extra work when it involves indulging my passion for filming, editing and creating websites (the first two especially being areas I really enjoy working in, but am still far from any good at, hence any excuse to practise!).
Feel free to follow everything happening over on the Team Brophy site, and also while you’re there read up on the challenge, why Ben is doing it, and donate towards LLR. Swimming the channel is such an epic challenge and something I would never be able to do, and with the fantastic cause on top of that it’s at least worth a few pounds! Thank you.
Aston have just published a press release for Team Brophy! Be sure to check it out at the link below. Hopefully will encourage a few more donations towards this great cause.