Rachel set to swim ‘Across the Bay’ in aid of DSK
RACHEL AIMING TO RAISE €5,000 FOR BY 5KM OPEN WATER SWIM FROM DERRYMORE TO FENIT IN AUGUST
A GRATEFUL Kerry mother will undertake one of the biggest challenges of her life in August when she will swim the 5km distance from Derrymore to Fenit, all in aid of Down Syndrome Kerry (DSK).
Rachel, whose own daughter, Peppy, has Down Syndrome, says that she will be eternally grateful for all the help that DSK has given Peppy, and so when she saw that DSK, like so many other charities, was facing a big fundraising loss because of COVID-19, she knew she had to help in any way she could.
Well, you can’t say that she took the easy way out as she signed up for the 5km open water swim, despite not having much experience in ocean swimming before this.
Under the watchful eye of coach Kevin Williams, Rachel has slowly started getting more experience of sea swimming.
Now, with two months to go to the swim and having already raised over €1,200 of her €5,000 goal, Rachel spoke to The Kerryman about the challenge.
“Kevin had mentioned that he and others do this ‘Across The Bay’ challenge and have done it for the last four years, and I was humming and hawing about whether I’d do it, but I signed up and Kevin is giving me great guidance,” she said.
“For me, it is a real challenge, it’s not like doing a 5k walk or run, it’ll probably take me up to three hours to do, and it’s very much a mental challenge as well,” she continued.
“Obviously with my younger daughter, Peppy, having
Down Syndrome, and with DSK losing huge funding this year, as has every charity, I just thought that the swim might help to raise some money. I didn’t know whether I was being ambitious with my goal of raising €1,000 per km, but I figured it’s better to set the bar high, and we’ve got €1,200 raised so far, which is fantastic,” said Rachel.
Rachel said that Peppy has been supported by the fabulous charity since her birth 12 years ago and that all the money raised will go towards DSK so that Peppy and others like her can keep availing of essential services such as Speech and Language Therapy, Occupational Therapy and much more.
“At the moment, the swim is set for somewhere in the first two weeks of August because it’s so dependent on the weather,” she said.
“There are 15 in Kevin’s group at the moment, so we are going to be meeting up about once a week to do a group training session, and then you have to do a minimum of two training sessions on your own, where you increase your distances,” she continued.
Anyone who wishes to contribute to Rachel’s fundraiser can head over to the link on the Down Syndrome Kerry Facebook page, and it’s also up on The Kerryman’s Facebook page.