Navy divers plan 500 km run and swim to help prostate cancer sufferers

Navy divers plan a gruelling six-hour physical challenge in and out of the water to raise awareness of prostate cancer.

Some 40 frogmen from across the Fleet Diving Squadron will leap into Horsea Lake in Portsmouth – their main training pool – from a 7.5m diving board, use their fins to propel them for 100 metres on the surface, and then clamber out of the water, remove the fins and run 400 metres.

And they’ll repeat it 25 times. Each So that’s 2½ kilometres in the water and the equivalent of a 10km run per diver – or 100km swim and 400km on foot in total.

Three circuits, as they are known, are a mainstay of training at the diving squadron’s headquarters near Port Solent.

The team reckon they can complete their super-circuit challenge on August 31 inside six hours.

“It’s less about raising money – although we’ll gladly take donations – the real aim is to raise awareness of prostate cancer,” said Leading Diver Lewis ‘Soapy’ Watson.

“Three circuits alone are gruelling. To do 25, that really is going to be tough.”

The challenge begins at 9am, with each diver reckoning they can complete their individual dive-swim-run in about three hours.

You can make a donation to support prostate cancer research via

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/RN-Fleet-Diving-Squadron