Charity swim completed for Surtees

Students of the school attended by Henry Surtees have completed a charity cross-channel swim in his memory

Steven English Jun 23, 2010, 12:58 PM

The 18-year-old son of 1964 world champion John Surtees was killed in a Formula 2 accident at Brands Hatch last July, having recently completed his A-levels at Worth School in West Sussex.

The students tackled the 21-mile swim as a relay event, swimming one-hour stints each before handing over to another. They reached the French coast in 13 hours and 13 minutes.

Dominic Robinson, who organised the event, told the BBC: "It's been absolutely fantastic. The weather was really great the whole way across. It has been really nice bringing everything to an end, it's the culmination of so much effort."

The swimmers aimed to raise £15,000 for the Sussex Air Ambulance - the chosen charity of the Surtees family, Headway - a post-brain injury charity, and the Matthew Elvidge Trust.

Along with 17-year-old Robinson, the other swimmers were Nick Elvidge, Nick Gandy, Rory Pickard, Ben Clyde-Smith, Sasha Richards and reserve team member Raphael Gruber.