Matthew Hoggard, the former international cricketer and 2005 Ashes winner will be diving into one his biggest challenges ever this summer. He is taking on all five Great Swim events to raise money for the cricket based charity, Cricket Without Boundaries (CWB).
He will be taking the plunge at Windermere in the Lake District National Park, Alton Water in Suffolk, Salford Quays near Manchester, the Royal Victoria Docks in London and at Loch Lomond in Scotland as part of his the fundraising campaign for the 10th anniversary of the charity. In total Hoggy will swim over 13km at the events.
CWB has delivered more than 50 projects in nine countries, coached over 130,000 children and trained 3,000 plus coaches in its 10 year history.
As well as using cricket to raise HIV/AIDS awareness, CWB also uses cricket to rehabilitate child soldiers in northern Uganda, rebuild communities in post-genocide Rwanda and work with Maasai warriors to empower women against FGM (Female Genital Mutilation) in Kenya.
Hoggy said, “I am delighted to be taking part in the Great Swim Series to help Cricket Without Boundaries continue to grow the game in Africa and use it as a vehicle to deliver vital health messages.
Cricket has given me so much over the years and it is great to be able to give something back. I would urge all cricket fans to support CWB - either by joining me on the swims and raising money themselves or by sponsoring me.
I had plenty of number of nerve-wracking moments in my career, from making my Test debut against the West Indies at Lord's in 2000 to facing the Aussies in the 2005 Ashes but, not being a swimmer, the thought of lining up with thousands of other people for the Great Swim Series is right up there.”
Training has been tough so far and I am by no way underestimating the challenge ahead of me!”
The money raised through the swims will help to support the work of CWB, particularly their ambassador programme which provides cricket coaching to schools by local coaches throughout the year.
Co-founder and Cricket Without Boundaries Trustee and Chris Kangis said, “We're delighted to have Matthew Hoggard on board for the Great Swims.
CWB kicked off our first project at the end of the legendary 2005 Ashes series so it is great to have one of the stars of that series taking part in the Great Swims for CWB as part of our 10th Anniversary.
This is a fantastic opportunity for existing volunteers to celebrate the last 10 years and for new people to get involved with CWB and help make our 10th Anniversary year a real success."
The charity is encouraging all cricket fans or anyone who would like to support their work to sign up to a Great Swim event near them and join Hoggy's team!
Alex Jackson Event Director of the Great Series said, "We're delighted Hoggy and Cricket Without Boundaries have chosen Great Swim for this exciting challenge.
Great Swim is Europe's biggest open water swimming series with over 20,000 expected to take part in five events across the UK.
Having such a recognisable personality at every Great Swim will no doubt encourage many more people to try open water swimming -whether to raise funds for a worthy cause or simply as a personal challenge!”
Enter your own team to support Hoggy's challenge, or donate to his fundraising page here