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Karl's English Channel Swim

Karl's English Channel Swim
1 Apr - 20 Sep 2019

Karl's English Channel Swim

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Karl Fleischer

Total raised

£2,390.00

+ £322.50 Gift Aid

34 Complete
34% of £7,000.00 target
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I will be attempting to swim across the English Channel on September 6th, 2019. Cancer is something that touches most all of us in one way or another. Working together, we can beat it.

In memory of

Lee Fleischer - my mother

05 Mar 1934 - 18 Feb 2017

Thanks for taking the time to visit my fundraising page.
Cancer is happening right now, which is why I’m fundraising right now for Cancer Research UK. There’s no time to lose!
Donate to my page today and help bring forward the day when all cancers are cured.

My mother and mother-in-law both had cancer twice and thankfully survived those traumatic life events. The very word "Cancer" invokes thoughts of something insidious and foreboding. However, there are countless stories of victory like my world record swimming friend Sarah Thomas from Colorado. Sarah recently recovered from breast cancer and on March 15th, 2019, she swam 35km across the Cook Strait in New Zealand from the North Island to the South Island. A truly remarkable and inspiring achievement!

Cancer Research UK is doing great work on almost all types of cancer. I would greatly appreciate your contribution to this worthwhile cause. With the proper resources, I believe that the day of a cure being discovered is not far in the future.

In preparation for my English Channel swim, I am currently training about 4,000 meters per day in the pool. Additionally, I am traveling to San Francisco every 6 to 8 weeks for cold water training in the Bay. On May 24th, 2019, I will be doing a 20 km swim around Mercer Island in Washington State. If successful, this will satisfy the 6 hour cold water qualifying swim required before I will be allowed to attempt to swim the English Channel.

21 June 2019 Update

The Mercer Island swim on 24 May was a great learning experience. Three weeks prior to that, I completed my 6 hour cold water qualifying swim in Denver. My Mercer swim lasted 9 hours and 5 minutes in cold water. I was within sight of the finish line, but unfortunately had exceeded the 9 hour time limit. The rough conditions, wind and waves really took their toll on me in the cold water. Also, I had difficulty taking my feeds, which probably contributed to my fatigue. I've taken everything I learned in Washington and made adjustments to my training program. I believe these lessons will significantly improve my chances of getting across the English Channel to France.

My gallery

Latest updates

A

Alan Polonsky

2020-01-21T16:56:39+00:00

£50.00

Great job Karl.

D

Darren Bagguley

2019-09-24T07:44:16+00:00

£50.00

+£12.50 Gift Aid

From your Stolle colleague here at Stolle EMS, well done on your fantastic effort for very worth causes

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Karl Fleischer

2019-09-23T13:18:07+00:00

I am happy to report that I made two attempts to swim across the Channel. The first one ended after 2.5 hours due to a mechanical failure on my escort boat. Six days later, I made a second attempt and got within 3.5 miles of the coast of France. After almost 12 hours of swimming, my boat captain called my swim out of concern for my wellbeing and lack of progress toward France. Please see my blog for further details at www.karlfleischer.com My sincere Thanks to all of those who supported my fundraiser and provided me encouragement during my two year journey to prepare for my swim. It has been the experience of a lifetime.

S

Stewart Fort

2019-09-19T13:24:50+00:00

£1,000.00

+£250.00 Gift Aid
M

Marc Peel

2019-09-17T14:08:38+00:00

£200.00

+£50.00 Gift Aid

Fantastic effort Karl, such a shame you didn't make the final few miles. Still a great achievement!

P

Paola De Matteis

2019-09-14T20:55:02+00:00

£50.00

Forza Karl!

Total raised£2,390.00

Online£2,390.00

Offline£0.00

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