Star pair are kayaking 21 miles across the English Channel for charity

A Disney Channel actor and an ex-GB athlete have teamed up this summer to raise GBP30,000 for a mobile veterinary vehicle in Romania. Dan Richardson, who stars in Disney’s hit TV series ‘The Lodge’ and ex-professional athlete Annie Robertson-Connolly, who is now a personal trainer, are kayaking 21 miles across the English Channel to Brighton and then immediately cycle 60 miles to London on Saturday September 2nd.

The pair, both vegan, are undertaking the challenge for the charity ‘International Aid for the Protection and Welfare of Animals (IAPWA)

The new veterinary vehicle they are aiming to fund with the GBP30,000 will be used for IAPWA’s mass spay and neuter activities in Romania. This aims to drastically reduce the number of new puppies being born to suffer on the streets there every year. Hundreds of thousands of stray dogs in Romania face extremely tough conditions, with temperatures as low as -25 in winter and with many becoming victims of cruelty.

Richardson, who is a patron of The Born Free Foundation, said that as soon as he heard about the conditions so many dogs are living in Romania, he knew he had to do something. “I couldn’t live with myself knowing that such suffering is happening and not try and do something to help make a difference,” he explains.