Tom Sanderson and Robert Platt wanted to complete a physical challenge in 2008 on behalf of two charities they supported. As we are both currently living on the South Coast of England and under time constraints we felt a channel crossing would be an excellent physical challange.

We did not quite realise the difficulty of rowing the English channel until we started training at Hastings rowing club in January 2008. Someone recently described the challenge as 'Training for a marathon that is 9 months away, and the first part of your training is learning to walk'.

Neither of us had rowed a boat until March 2008. Repeatedly we have been told how hard this challenge will be. This is the point of crossing, we hope the physical and mental commitment it takes to cross the English channel will encourage people to give generously to our chosen charities.


If you want more proof of how dangerous the English Channel is for two men in a rowing boat, check out the recent BBC series 'Britain from Above':


www.bbc.co.uk/britainfromabove/stories/visualisations/channel.shtml