FIVE members of the JBR Run and Tri Club have raised more than £10,000 after swimming the English Channel.

Karen Saltwell, Alistair Bell, Phil Coombe, Phil Young and Stephanie Milligan completed the swim in a time of 16 hours and 57 minutes, with the funds raised going to Little Havens Children’s Hospice.

And Coombe, who is also a member of Chalkwell Redcaps, was delighted to be a part of the team of swimmers as well as seeing the long-term preparation pay off.

Coombe said: “The Redcaps’ attempt to cross the Channel last summer inspired me, so I approached Emma Hamilton at Havens Hospice with the idea of swimming the Channel and raising money for Little Havens Children’s Hospice in return.

“I decided early on that I wanted to do the swim with representatives from the JBR Run and Tri Club and put together a team of five people initially from the club.

“Training really ramped up in January as we were regularly swimming 3k+ sessions as well as the normal club sessions in the pool.

“From March we started to do acclimatisation swims in the sea and a few of us went to a training camp in Loch Ness as it was an opportunity to swim in very cold and very open expanses of water. “Two of us also completed a 10k river swim, the Jubilee swim in early June, which was great in terms of getting used to time in the water.”

The quintet had to undertake a two-hour test swim in sub-16 degree water before attempting the charity swim.

All five members passed the test, which took place in Deal, Kent.

After a two-hour delay, the swimmers set off from Dover at 12:18am and swam throughout the night.

The JBR Run and Tri Club members were hampered by jellyfish, with all five members suffering multiple stings, and two members suffered sea sickness, but they raised more than £10,000 as they reached France.