Keating among stars gearing up for Irish Sea swim
Five celebrities were bracing themselves today for a gruelling swim across the Irish Sea – starting a day ahead of schedule.
The team, led by pop star Ronan Keating also includes TV presenter Jenny Frost, Strictly star Pamela Stephenson, gadget guru Jason Bradbury and Olympic medallist Steve Parry.
They will brave treacherous currents, ferries and even sharks in a bid to raise £1m (€1.2m) for Cancer Research UK.
The challenge will see them swim 56 nautical miles (65 land miles) from Holyhead, in Anglesey, North Wales, to Dublin.
They had been due to set off at around lunchtime tomorrow, but changing weather conditions mean they could depart as early as 7pm tonight.
The five famous faces will be joined by five “super swimmers”, who are experienced in open water swimming and complete the relay team.
Each member will take turns swimming for one hour until the arduous task is complete after an estimated 40 hours.
As well as swimming long hours through the night in darkness, they will also have to dodge wind farms and cope with tidal variations which mean the swimmers could end up covering a distance of up to 70 nautical miles (81 land miles).
Keating, 34, came up with the idea with Richard Branson, who was also due to take part in the relay but pulled out at the weekend after his Caribbean home on Necker Island burned to the ground.
The Boyzone star said: “It’s a massive challenge, daunting and scary.
“Some amazing people, some amazing swimmers and great celebs have given their time and trained hard for this.
“If we succeed it will be monumental.”
The singer conceded that he “must have been drunk”, when he agreed to take part but added that the loss of his mother to breast cancer 13 years ago, inspired him to say yes.
He added: “I’m not a sea swimmer, but I’m here because I care and I want to raise as much money as possible for Cancer Research UK.
“Richard Branson and I came up with the idea about 12 months ago and it has just snowballed into this event.
“We wanted to do something that was totally different and hadn’t been done before.”
