North Eastern swimmer and Puffin Swim ambassador Jane Hardy is soon to join a team of marine conservationists on an awareness-raising swim in Antarctica.
The teams aim is to highlight Lewis Pugh’s Antarctica 2020 campaign to have two sea areas designated as Marine protection areas and highlight the UN’s Environmental action programme against Plastic in our Oceans
Jane Hardy a volunteer for UK charity British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR), has been undertaking intensive training to prepare for the epic effort since November 2019.
“I’m not the best swimmer in the world, but I do have determination and stamina,” she said, adding “when I saw that the campaign was looking for swimmers to take part in an expedition to swim in Antarctica I knew this would be a lifetime experience and I simply had to go for it.”
The expedition, Antarctica 2020, will be taking place in mid-February, and aims to create worldwide awareness of the incredibly special place the region is for marine habitats and wildlife, with the ultimate goal of creating two new internationally-recognised Marine Protected Areas in its inshore seas.
Jane’s training regime has been to do a cold water sea swim virtually every day since the start of November, gradually building up distances and times while enduring water temperatures as low as 4 degrees Celsius in the North Sea without a wetsuit. The team will use Puffin Swim tow floats whilst in the freezing water for extra safety.
“The trip stands for everything I believe in,” Jane added. “It’s an opportunity to highlight what we are doing to the planet and I’d like to educate and ultimately help protect the area. I love everything to do with the ocean, I clear my local beach of litter every day when I walk the dog, and I volunteer for BDMLR rescuing marine mammals along this stretch of coast too, and I’ve seen seals entangled and suffering horrific injuries due to pollution, so it only makes sense that I fundraise for BDMLR alongside this series of swims too.”
Jane and the team will be swimming from the 17th February onwards within the Antarctic circle across a variety of locations. Anyone who would like to help support Jane and BDMLR can visit her Justgiving page at www.justgiving.com/fundraising/jane-hardy13?utm_id=25.
To find out more about the campaign itself visit www.antarctica2020swim.com.
