Hi I'm Jonny Dean, 27 years old and I've decided to take part in this amazing challenge to help raise money for Diabetes UK.

In 2002 I was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes.

It was a shock and initially I was wondering how it would effect me in the future and what restrictions it would put on my life.

Diabetes hasn't beaten me, nor has it stopped me in participating in everything. The idea of a distance swim has been in my brain for a while and if you can raise money for a worth while charity then it's got to be done. It's going to be hard and cold but being in a team will help immensely. I can't wait....

I've wanted to swim The English Channel for some time now and thought that a relay race would give me an insight to the experience.

On August 8th 2009 I was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. So swimming the Channel as part of a relay team on behalf of Diabetes UK is my place to start.

On the 1st anniversary of being diagnosed I will be joining a team of five other like minded people to attempt to swim across the Channel.

There will be two other teams joining us in their attempt at the same.

I had a fantastic summer training in the sea with the team, so when someone suggested the channel relay I jumped at the opportunity.

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Nick will be sending some information about himself soon.

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Mered will be sending some info about himself soon.

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Hi I am a fitness instructor in Milton Keynes but I also like to keep myself fit by running marathons and triathlons.

I also play hockey for a local club and can be sometimes found teaching skiing on our indoor ski slope. I always wanted to swim the channel as a teenager but never got round to it so when I saw the advert to swim it as a team, I jumped at the chance.

Training is the hardest thing about this challenge. I am comforted that I have already swum in colder climes than the challenge I’m about to undertake and have already experienced hyperthermia.

This week alone I will have swum for three hours outside in the beautiful lido and trained three hours on land. By the day of the event I will have swum 100s of miles in preparation which will be coupled with tens of hours of gym work. Weekly, from May I will be swimming in open water.

On the day I will be in a team of six, each of us taking one-hour stints in the cold, dirty, water – dodging ferries, tankers and all manner of debris, on our way to France. This will take place some time between the 9th &16th August 2010 (the precise date depends on the conditions in the Channel).

Why? One of the key reasons is that I was asked by my brother. I initially said ‘no’ – but he looked so dissapointed! I asked him why he wanted to do it and he said that really he wanted to make sense of all the swimming we did and do. This rang true to me.

I have an early memory of my father trying to convince me to let go of the side of the pool and later memories swimming for hours and hours on holiday, swimming pools, rivers and – my favourite – the sea.

Another key reason: the charity Diabetes UK. I think that diabetes touches many lives in one way or another; we all know people who live with this disease. Some report it as a modern epidemic. Its ribbon is grey – this is to denote the boringness of the disease with a red pin expresses the frequent blood testing.

Please dig deep, for those of you who usually buy me birthday presents, I don’t want you to this year – please donate the money that you would have spent on sponsoring my swim! If you even buy me a coffee or lunch, don’t! Instead, donate the money. If you’ve ever been nasty to me, this is the time to make up for it! If I’ve ever done you a favour, this me calling it in!