Councillor splashes out on Channel charity swim
A councillor is aiming to swim the English Channel to raise money for two cancer charities.
Cllr Paul Hopfensperger, who is county councillor for the Tower ward in Bury St Edmunds, will be taking the icy plunge between July 8 and 13 next year.
The aim will be to swim to Calais – following in the strokes of comedian David Walliams, who achieved the cross channel challenge recently. It will be a swim of about 26 or 27 miles in one of the busiest shipping lanes.
Cllr Hopfensperger, 43, is a talented swimmer, swimming for the county in his younger days, and is aiming to raise money from the endeavour for this year's Bury St Edmunds mayor's charities, Clic Sargent, which supports children with leukaemia and their families, and St Nicholas' Hospice, in Bury.
He will be piloted by Andy King, who acted as pilot for Mr Walliams' swim.
Helping him to fund-raise is Julia Rackowe, who has plenty of experience working with Bury in Bloom.
His fitness is being looked after by Gudrun Collins, of GeeColl, sports massage therapy, and his swim coaching is being done by John Stemp, who coached Mr Hopfensperger, an IT consultant, to success 22 years ago.
Cllr Hopfensperger, nicknamed Hoffy, swam for the county and captained Bury St Edmunds Swimming Club. He became county record holder for 100 metres freestyle.
He will be training at Culford Swimming Pool and aims to be
building up the lengths between now and next July.
He said: "The reason for doing this is threefold. Firstly, I met Mike Reid in 1980 and he has swum the channel 33 times and that planted the seed. My wife Beccy is mayor this year and trying to raise money for Clic Sargent and the hospice.
I then saw David Walliams from Little Britain do the swim and decided if he could, so could I.
"I'm not kidding myself that it isn't going to be very tough indeed, with the biggest problem being the intense cold, the jelly fish and sewerage in the Channel.
"What will keep me focused and determined to succeed is the thought of being able to raise thousands of pounds for the two causes that my wife, Rebecca, has chosen as her charities for her year as Mayor of Bury St Edmunds."
The idea is to raise 50,000, with the cost of the swim around another 5,000.
A website has been set up to tell people how they can help. Log on to www.hoffyschannelswim.org.uk
Cllr Hopfensperger needs 800 to register for his swim by October 20 and he will be keeping us in touch with his training on our website with his own swim blogspot, which can be accessed through www.burystedmundtoday.co.uk
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Weather for Bury St Edmunds
Thursday 24 May 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 13 C to 25 C
Wind Speed: 14 mph
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