Ben Brophy

Our next big event is coming up!

Posted on November 7, 2012 by Ben Brophy

Welcome to another update, there has been so much going on lately it’s all guns blazing at the moment with the big swim in less than a year!

The first big announce is that the website has been updated! It has greatly improved so make sure you take a look and check it out! As well as the website’s new look we have had a complete re-brand, I’m sure you will agree it’s a big improvement.

To give you an idea about how training is going, lets go through a typical working day. It’s a 6am wake up and still dark outside when I start making my way to the gym for a morning training session for about 6:30-7am. After a 45-60 minutes workout I then head back home to get ready for work. 8:15am I leave the house again for work, it’s a lot lighter and I am now feeling wide awake as I head off on my busy day. When I’m done, it’s 5:30pm and again dark outside and now the second journey to the Swimming pool and gym begins. I get home around 6:15, 15 minutes to get something to eat and at 6:30 I leave for my evening swim. 7-8pm swimming session is well underway, every Tuesday I’m able to do a 2 hour swim instead of just the one due to opening and closing times at the swimming pool. 8:30-9pm or on Tuesday 9:30-10pm I get home find my seat by the TV and catch up on the news/work before heading to bed ready for tomorrow!

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Ben Brophy

1:5:2 – TeamBrophy’s Biggest challenge yet!

Posted on September 17, 2012 by Ben Brophy

1:5:2
1 Day, 5 Hours, 2 Races

Our biggest Challenge yet is now less than a week away! It will push Ben like never before and is titled “1:5:2”. 1:5:2 is all about pushing the body to the max, involving endurance, peck recovery times and core strength.

On the 22nd of September Ben will be completing in the SOS.MK. 1 mile (1609meters) open water race. He will then race 5 hours later in the Box End Park 800meters open water race at 1pm! Both of these races are competitive with prizes for the winners. Ben will then be joining a Master class by Mr Davenport the 2012 Gold medallist and 2 time commonwealth champion.

This is a huge test with 2400meters of open water competitive swimming in heavily dropping temperatures. The massive challenge is as always, being done in the name of charity to raise money and awareness for Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research who are dedicated to beating blood cancers!

You can get up-to-date news on the day through our twitter account: https://twitter.com/BrophysChannel. Make sure you show your support by sending in messages to Facebook, RT’s and #GoTeamBrophy on twitter to help Ben complete this amazing challenge! As always now is your chance to show your appreciation for this mind blowing challenge by giving a small donation at http://www.justgiving.com/teambrophy.

Thank you for all the support so far and it’s great to see the support from you all as we continue to challenge ourselves to raise money for Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research.

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Ben Brophy

Training Update

Posted on August 27, 2012 by Ben Brophy

Welcome to an training update from Brophy!

Training has been very intense recently; now back in Bedford I am currently making the most of the facilities that are on offer at Box End Park. Being able to train at the Box End Park lake has been very enjoyable and great for my progress. I have been hidden away in this quiet area training over the summer with the 800 metre lake on offer 4 days a week and the bigger 1600-1800 metre lake once a week. This open water swimming has given me a taste of what it will be like and I have been able to calculate what stage I am in with my training and the speed needed for the channel. Below is a picture of my current training location.

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Ben Brophy

Olympics, Channel Facts and Figures!

Posted on August 11, 2012 by Ben Brophy

I’m sure I don’t need to tell you the Olympics is on, it’s hard to get away from it at times. The Olympics are here in London and seeing our beloved Team GB winning medals, it’s hard not to feel good at the moment. Knowing just how hard all the Olympic athletes  have trained and the emotions at the end of their races/events. It’s given me an extra boost in training, picturing the end goal of the celebrations in France and back home here in England!

It’s important to remember that whether I succeed or not all the money raised will still be donated and help save lives, the ultimate goal of this whole venture. So here are a few facts and figures to put things in perspective.

  • Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research has over 50 years of experience investing in quality research.
  • If you take into account the S shape swimming style its more like 26 miles from England to France. Around 811 people have swim the English Channel since 1875. This is not a lot of people. By comparison, Mount Everest has been around climbed 2049 times.
  • 30 is the median age to swim the Channel, Ben will be 22 years old.
  • The success rate reminds 1-5
  • The average time taken is around 14 hours of none stop swimming
  • Sea temperature is likely to be around 10C
  • The swimmer may not touch the boat at any time
  • The swimmer is able to wear one pair of goggles, a swim hat and a swimming costume.

Why would you put yourself through this you may ask, for charity I would reply. That’s all for now, make sure you keep an eye out for next week’s blog as it’s a training update!

 

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Ben Brophy

Tribute to Paraic Casey

Posted on August 5, 2012 by Ben Brophy

On Sunday the 22nd of July 2012 the sad news broke that Paraic Casey died when attempting to swim the English Channel. Paraic aged 45, from Cork, became ill off the French coast in the early hours of Sunday. It is reported that Paraic was about a mile from the French shore when he took ill. Everyone at Team Brophy would like to offer our condolences and our thoughts and prayers are with Paraic’s family.

It is important to remember that swimming the English Channel remains one of hardest challenges there is. The success rate remains one out of every five people even to this day. The first person to successfully swim the channel was Captain Matthew Webb who took 21 hours 45 minutes and the average to this day remains 14 hours. Though it remains a huge challenge there are many safety nets in place with a 6 hour test, pilot boat and officials on the day.

It’s important to remember why people like myself and Paraic Casey train to attempt the English Channel, because of the challenge and drive of raising money for charities close to our hearts.

Thanks for all the support,

Brophy

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