Swimmers aim for age record in Channel challenge

Lionel Spittle (right), pictured with Dave Rock, turns 70 before next month's challenge

Swimmers with a combined age of 233 hope to set a world record as the oldest mixed four-person relay team to swim the English Channel.

The quartet includes Lionel Spittle, from Wolverhampton, who turns 70 before the attempt starts on 15 August.

The swimmers and another team of four are both raising money for charity.

Mr Spittle said he had to be part of a relay to satisfy his ambition of a Channel swim as he was not capable "and I never have been" of doing it solo.

He explained: "I've asked some friends, thinking I may struggle to get three. I've got seven."

The swimmer, who lost his wife 10 years ago to a brain tumour, took on a different challenge for his 65th birthday.

He swam 65 lengths of a pool, cycled 65 miles and ran 65 laps of a track, raising more than £5,000.

The Brain Tumour Charity will benefit again from his own group's challenge next month. The other four swimmers are fundraising for Birmingham Children's Hospital.

Iain Hughes went missing during a solo swim in the English Channel on 20 June

Participants said they would think of Iain Hughes, of Dudley, who went missing in June while attempting a Channel-crossing swim. 

One of them, Dave Rock, said firefighter Mr Hughes would be "very much" on his mind.

He stated: "If anybody was going to do the Channel, it was him. We trained with Iain a number of times and he joined us for a training swim in Dover.. [He was a] really lovely guy."

Mr Rock said "the awful events... did leave the team pretty flat to be quite honest".

But he added: "Since then, we've seen a lot of people who've been successful.

"You think 'you know what, we're gonna do it for him and make a damn good job of it."