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Four men complete epic Channel swim and raise £4,000 for charity

Thursday, 24 July 2025 08:12

The Swim de Aky team after completing their epic fundraising challenge.

Four men have completed an epic English Channel swim, raising over £4,000 in memory of a friend and colleague who died by suicide.

The team, known as Swim De Aky, began the 21-mile relay swim from England to France yesterday (Wednesday).

They finished the challenge at around 1:30am this morning in a total time of around 16 hours.

The swim team consisted of Kev “The Carp” Lacks-Kelly, Nat “Nature Boy” Powlowski, Mark “The Shark” Baber and Dave “The Dolphin” Young.

The group, who are not professional swimmers and had limited open water experience, have raised £4,670 raised so far.

Their efforts were in aid of two charities: Andy’s Man Club, which supports men’s mental health, and Yorkshire Air Ambulance.

The swim formed part of a wider fundraising initiative linked to the Tour de Aky — an annual event created in memory of Mick ‘Aky’ Atkinson, who passed away in 2018.

Donations for the Swim De Aky are still being accepted through their GoFundMe page here.

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