Two Ninewells Hospital employees have taken part in a relay swim across the English Channel to raise thousands for research into diabetes.
Martin Waddington (49) and Graham Matthew (48) braved the choppy waters for a cause that is very close to both of their hearts.
Martin, who works at Tayside Pharmaceuticals, said: ”We both know people affected by diabetes. There’s also a big diabetes department within Ninewells. Most people probably know someone with diabetes colleagues or friends.”
Martin’s niece has the condition and Graham (48) went through a kidney transplant operation himself.
”Eight years ago I had a kidney from my sister,” he said. ”I know a lot of transplant patients, too.”
Both Martin and Graham have plenty of swimming experience, but admitted nothing prepared them for the daunting task of swimming the Channel.
Graham said: ”We’ve been training hard, but I’m not sure the training prepares you for the swell of the ocean. We all swam for about three hours on the day.
”I’ve always used a wetsuit before, but I joined the Phibbies this year and I’ve done a couple of swims with them.”
The pair joined a team of swimmers called Somewhere Dover the Rainbow. They came from all over the UK for the special Diabetes UK swim.
The stretch from Dover to Calais is only about 21 miles, but when tides and the current are taken into account it is closer to 24 or 25.
Each member of the team took on about five miles, with Martin entering the water late at night.
”We got to France at 1.50am,” he said. ”We finished the whole swim in 17 and a half hours. We had to swim through midnight and by the time we got back to Dover it was about 5am.
”The night swims were particularly hard ones. I had been on the boat for 14 hours when it was coming up to midnight, so it was quite a lot to get yourself back into the water.”
Both men arrived in France sore but ”elated” to complete the arduous task.
Graham said: ”My family are down here and we’ve made a holiday out of it. We took the ferry to Calais and had a glass of champagne to celebrate.”
Martin added: ”Everybody finished and everybody did a good job. I was just happy to get there in one piece.”
Martin and Graham each had to raise £1,250 to take part in the swim and Diabetes UK has raised £56,000 off the back of the swim.