ALTON’S open water swimmer, Maggie Tesolin, swam the English Channel on August Bank Holiday Monday as part of a six-man team raising money for COSMIC, a charity supporting the paediatric IC unit at St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington, London.
Having met Dr Parviz Habibi, a paediatric consultant at St Mary’s, and been invited to join the COSMIC relay team, Maggie had to qualify by simming two hours in open water in temperatures below 16 degrees celsius. Then began a gruelling training regime to ensure she was able to complete the distance and could deal with deep cold water, big waves and swells, wildlife like jellyfish, and swimming in the dark.
Wind prohibited a first attempt on August 7, but at 5am on August 26 the team got under way.
Each person swam for an hour at a time and for the final 500m of the swim the whole team got in to land on the French shore together.
Maggie has raised £1,600 of her £2,000 target. She has a donation bucket at her Bottega dei Sapori coffee shop or visit https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/maggie-tiziano-tesolin.