Hornets player swims channel for charity
The remarkable paramedic and rugby player, Darran Griffiths, whose channel swim raised over £3,000 for the Weston Hospice.
Hornets veteran Darran Griffiths, having played for the club since the age of 13 and at all senior levels, recently swam the English Channel at the age of 38, raising over £3000 for Weston Hospice.
Paramedics, Darran and his partner, Emily Hodder, pushed themselves to the limit over the summer to raise cash for charity with different challenges.
Darran emulated his sister Laura, who completed the swim in 1997 at just 16, and also played for Hornets Ladies in Weston-super-Mare. She and Darran are now the only brother and sister to have completed this challenge and with the same pilot boat, Masterpiece.
After open water swim training, mainly in Clevedon Maine Lake and at Weymouth, and with delays caused by the pandemic, Darran, his sister and now coach Laura, and partner, Emily, travelled to Folkstone in August to acclimatise and prepare for the swim. Early in the morning of 22nd August, he entered the water at Shakespeare Beach, Dover and 12hrs 7m later arrived at Cap Gris Nez. Wearing his Hornets budgy smugglers, he celebrated with a can of Thatchers Gold! Darran is one of around 2000 swimmers to have completed the solo challenge since Captain Mathew Webb did so for the first time in 1875.
Just a week later Emily, a Hornets fan, flew out to Tanzania to climb Kilimanjaro in support of Dig Deep who provide fresh water, safe toilets and good hygiene in Kenya and surrounding countries. Kilimanjaro is the highest mountain in Africa and the highest free-standing one in the world at 19,300 ft.
Having trained with progressively difficult hikes over three years, the pandemic and pregnancy interrupted Emily’s schedule. Setting out from Machame Gate base camp on the 1st September, it took a gruelling four days to climb to the summit. On the final day with 22 other adventurers, she started off at 11 pm with sunrise at 6am and reached the peak at 7:30am, raising around £2700 for Dig Deep.
Darran’s son Finley now plays in the Hornets U10s Swarm team while his brother, Oakley, at only six months old is sure to be out on the club pitches enjoying his rugby as soon as he is old enough.
Darran’s fundraiser is here.
Emily’s is here.
