Chloe and Amelia at the Lorne Pier to Pub swim in January- nearly 5000 swimmers took part!

The Foundation For Young Australians moves T.O.T.M.

All of the girls on both sides of the World have had a busy few weeks. There has been planning for fundraisers, schoolwork, training and uniforms to get organised! To say nothing of Channel Swimmers & Pilot Federation memberships & medicals and then Pilot contracts to get organised-all of which is nearly completed!

The Aussie girls received some excedllent news on Friday- a submision to The Foundation For Young Australians has been successful! The Opportunity Bank is providing $10,000 to cover the travel costs of getting to the Channel. This grant is an integeral part of the whole process and will allow T.O.T.M. to continue with it's aims!

Last race for the year....

In windy, choppy & challenging conditions Amelia & Chloe contested the Port Fairy Ocean Swim today. This 1200m swim is the first leg of a series of three swims held on the Ship Wreck Coast. The next will be at Port Campbell in January. Both did well, with Chloe managing a last minute dash to win the junior girls section. All part & parcel of their preparation for the "Sea 2 See" crossing in August!

Over the past two weeks, the girls have spent many hours selling raffle tickets at a local supermarket. They had assistance from 10 year old Aislinn, who has become a valuable helper for TOTM-together they raised around $500AUD. This means that they have raised around $1500 of their $25,000 goal so far, with bigger events planned for next year.

ALL THE BEST IN THE NEW YEAR FROM TEAM TOTM!

Merry Christmas and a happy season of swimming!

Such a busy time of the year! In between the training and socialising, the girls from Team T.O.T.M. have put their thinking caps on for their fundraising efforts. In Australia, Chloe and Amelia are currently spending a couple of hours a day selling raffle tickets at one of the local supermarkets- they have had prizes donated from Quest Apartments in Warrnambool, a $100 grocery hamper from IGA Supermarket and a fashion pack from the Karras family. With the raffle not drawn until December 31st, they are hoping to raise another few hundred towards the overall goal of $25,000.

In January, they have been allowed to have a BBQ at the local Bunnings hardware store-other groups have been raising $1000 or so from these days, so it should go well.

On Jersey Island, Alice, Bianca, Chantelle & Tamsin have come up with some ideas for absailing and a distance swim in the local pool (The same distance as the Channel itself).

Keep up all of the good work girls!

Dee

Long time, no blog!

Just a quick update on the TOTM Team- the Aussie girls are in full training, alternating between day swims in Lady Bay and night swims in the Hopkins River. They have had to deal with a variety of conditions- and have done so with style! This is on top of the normal pool training that they do each week.

Last Saturday, they participated in a "Big Day Out"- where they had 4 1hour swims over the day at various venues around the Southern Coast of Victoria.

The Jersey girls are heading into winter- so not a lot of Open Water training for them at the moment!

Both groups are about to organise various fundraisers for the "Sea 2 See" challenge supporting the Fred Hollows Foundation :to keep them even busier over the next few months!

At the moment I am in the process of finalising a sponsor-hopefully we can announce that soon!

Dee
TOTM Team Manager

Aaah...technology is a wonderful thing!

Last Sunday, the Internet allowed the TOTM team members on opposite sides of the World to speak "face to face"! Although it was nearly 10pm Saturday night on Jersey Island and 7am Sunday morning in Australia the girls were able to use Messenger for a video conference!

It was a great opportunity for them to catch up with one another-especially when you consider the Challenge ahead!

Pictured above for the first time-the Jersey girls! TOTM is excited that

Bianca, Alice, Chantelle and Tasmin will be joining them in the "Sea 2 See" Challenge!

TOTM & THE SUSIE SHOW

Under unfortunate circumstances Amelia could not make it to Wollongong. I ended up being the only TOTM representative-it was scary! We flew out of Geelong,were collected from Sydney Airport by Penny Tribe from the Fred Hollows Foundation and she took us to the train station. I really enjoyed meeting her. We then took the train to Wollongong.

We had a lovely stay at the Hotel Ibis. The morning after we arrived, we jumped in a hire car and went over to the WIN TV studios. Once we got there, everyone was very nice. They helped me whenever I needed help. We did not realise that Ricki Lee Coulter ( a famous Australian singer who was on Australian Idol) was going to be on the same show that day.

I got a bit nervous when I was about to go on the "Susie" show, but then I was fine. Susie was really nice and I felt like I was just having a normal conversation with her.

After we had spent the day at WIN, I was given a lovely bunch of flowers & we got picked up in a limo and driven back to Sydney Airport!

It was an awesome experience and got a lot of publicity for TOTM!

Chloe X0X0

Also thanks to Warrnambool's Harvey Norman Store, Commonwealth Bank & Flight Centre for making this trip possible.

Deanne- Team Manager