A COMMITTED youngster swam the equivalent length of the English channel to raise money for Scoliosis UK – a charity supporting people like his mum who suffer from the illness.
13-year-old Connor McCarthy, of South Ockendon, was told he was too young to complete a real channel swim, so decided to swim the equivalent distance in at a pool.
The Romford Town Swimming Club swimmer completed 33.3km, consisting of 1,332 lengths of a 25 metre pool over seven days, finishing on Friday.
His mum, Faye, suffers severely with Scoliosis and throughout her life has had a dozen major operations to correct the severe curvature in her spine.
Connor’s mum was recently supported by the Goffs Oak Lodge, who funded essential rehabilitation therapy a couple of months ago.
As a token of thanks for their support, Connor put himself forward to help them raise funds for their core charity this year, Scoliosis UK; which is one which is very close to his heart.
After setting an initially modest target of just £800, Connor has exceeded all expectations, raising £2,355.
Event organiser, Lee Cannon, said: “This sounds easy, but this equates to an incredible 33.3km or 1,332 lengths of a 25m pool.
“All of this he has set to complete within 7 days, and as it is during term time, most of those will have been a 05:30 plunge into the pool before a full day in school.
“This is an incredible challenge by a remarkable young man, and both his Facebook page for the event and indeed his GoFundMe page has received favourable attention.
“During the event he very kindly got a mention by Steve Allen on LBC wishing him and this #GoOnConnor tag all the very best.
“Tim Aker MEP has also expressed his keen support for Connor too”
A spokesman for Romford Town Swimming Club said: “A huge congratulations to our RTSC swimmer Connor McCarthy who completed his week long challenge of Swimming the English Channel and raising a huge amount of money and awareness for his chosen Charity Scoliosis.”
As well as raising funds for charity, the seven day swim was recorded for a video blog, which can be seen here youtu.be/Agjmph7hNyg
To donate, visit https://uk.gofundme.com/connor039s-cross-channel-challenge
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