Owen’s solo cross channel swim for Helen & Douglas House

Owen Larsen, age 31, from Plymouth, swam 37 miles across the English Channel on Sunday 30th September, raising £857 for Helen & Douglas House, inspired by the support Olivia Kershaw from Swindon receives from the charity.

Owen started his swim off just south of Dover with a support boat following him with his target a rocky knoll just south of Calais called Le Gris Nez. Once they got the ‘thumbs up’ from the boat skipper that the weather looked promising, they then set off at 2.30 am, which was the most favourable tide window. Owen got dropped off at Samphire Hoe just south of Dover where he swam to the shore at which point the clock started. From that point on, no one was allowed to touch Owen and he couldn’t touch the boat. He had to swim in plain coloured speedo briefs and was only allowed a standard swimming cap.

Once he left the beach he swam alongside the boat which guided him to France, navigating through the two shipping channels and the strong tides. Owen took refreshments for about 30 seconds every 45 minutes - a sports drink or jelly, banana or tinned fruit. After 15 hours 10 minutes Owen reached landfall on the French coast just south of Calais, where he had to completely remove his body from the water for the swim to be officially complete.

The support boat was skippered by Eric Hartley and was also accompanied by a Channel Swimming Association Observer on board to affiliate the swim. His support team fed Owen and updated him on progress and included Owen’s wife Sarah and two work colleagues Christopher and Ali. Simon Kershaw Olivia’s Dad was planning to be there to be Owen’s pace swimmer but because the swim was delayed because of the weather, he was not able to make it but he did train with Owen.

The reason Owen is raising money for Helen & Douglas House is that the charity provides amazing help and support to a close of friend his, Simon Kershaw and his family. Olivia Kershaw is 2 years old and had such a difficult start in life. The parasite toxoplasmosis found its way to her before she was born. The parasite caused inflammation in her brain and eyes. She was in intensive care for three months undergoing numerous surgeries including a blood transfusion and three brain surgeries.

Since leaving the hospital the roller coaster ride has not stopped. Currently Olivia has a large brain injury and suffers from global developmental delay, epilepsy and blindness. Helen & Douglas House is a wonderful place that Olivia loves. It has great facilities such as a hydrotherapy pool and a sensory stimulation room.

Owen said ‘It is because of Olivia that I would like to raise money for the Helen & Douglas House Children's Hospice. They are struggling to meet their running costs and I am keen to create as huge as possible a contribution to a very deserving charity.  I hope my attempt to swim across the English Channel, whilst avoiding passing ships and jellyfish, will encourage you to please donate generously!

‘I have done a few endurance challenges before mostly for military charities but this is by far my biggest challenge yet. For training I started by doing long swimming pool sessions, through the winter I was swimming in a local lake - the lowest the water temperature dropped to was 1.5 degrees celcius - and then I commenced my sea swimming sessions with my coach at Weymouth. We started out swimming for 1-2 hours alongside her boat and as the sea temperature increased we increased the duration of my swims all the way up to 10 hours.’

Commenting on his cross channel swim Owen said ‘I can’t believe it’s all done now, it was quite a bit longer and harder than I was expecting but I am just really pleased to have finished.’

If you would like to donate to Helen & Douglas House and support Owen go to https://www.justgiving.com/teams/owenschannelswim