'I hardly swam - now I'm swimming the Channel'

Two swim coaches from Devon are swimming the English Channel in a bid to boost body positivity.

Terri Ingram, 53, and Allie Kaufman, 35, both from Hele Bay in Ilfracombe, will take on the challenge later this year as part of a relay team of four, which includes Ms Kaufman's father.

They are doing it for the Body Happy Organisation, a social enterprise group helping children and young people respect and accept all bodies.

Ms Ingram, who started sea swimming in lockdown and then turned to coaching, told BBC Radio Devon: "I was able to swim a dodgy front crawl, but in four-and-a-half years I've learnt how to swim properly in open water."

The pair are training two or three times a week, which involves solo sessions in deep water as well as night swimming.

Ms Ingram said: "It changed my life really because it gave me some time to think about what I wanted to do... I decided to become an open water swim coach."

Ms Kaufman started coaching with Ms Ingram when she moved to Ilfracombe.

"Swimming has always been part of my life, I use to go sea swimming with my Dad... he'd always dreamed of swimming the Channel," she said.

She said the swim was "very strict", with each member of the relay swimming for an hour at a time. Participants are not allowed to touch each other or the pilot boat.

According to the Channel Swimming Association, the shortest distance across the Channel is 21 miles (33km).

Ms Ingram said she was supporting The Body Happy Organisation to encourage children to talk about bodies.

Speaking about about people who come to them for coaching, she said: "We know that when people come to us, they are can feel vulnerable.

"They're getting in a swimming costume, which can be such a huge deal [and] a lot of how they feel has come from childhood.

"We work hard to normalise what we feel are very normal bodies... we are passionate about helping people."