The Swimathon returned for a 4th time to USSC over the weekend (30th – 31st March), this year in aid of Cancer Research UK and Marie Curie Cancer Care.
The Swimathon is a nationwide charity swimming event where participants can choose to swim 400m, 1.5km, 2.5km, 5km or a Triple 5km (new this year) individually or 1.5km or 5km as part of a maximum 5 person team in order to raise money for the above charities.
Over the course of the weekend, a total of 54 Swimmer’s took to the water to complete their various challenges across the 2 sessions, completing a total of 129km between them. Of those swimmer’s, 15 completed individual 5km swims, with a further 8 of those swimmer’s completing the Triple 5km challenge.
We have a few moments from the weekend that we would like to share with you.
Firstly, we would like to say a massive thank you to member’s Andrew and Sarah Medley for volunteering to lane count for the Sunday evening session. Sarah had taken part by completing a 2.5km Individual swim on the Saturday and returned on the Sunday to give up her time to help with the running of the event; without you this would not have been possible.
Similarly we would also like to say thank you to Bernadette Oakey and Hanna Coburn who were both due to complete Individual 5km swims over the course of the weekend; sadly neither were up to the challenge by the time the weekend came around, so instead they too became part of our on the day teams. Once again a massive thank you to you both, as again the running of this weeknd would not have gone so smoothly!
Secondly, on behalf of all of the participants, and the team, we would like to say a big thank you to member Marianne Metaxas who not only took part in the Swimathon for a 4th year in a row, but also provided some sweet treats in the form of a cake and a brownie for everyone taking part! Such a lovely touch and very much appreciated by all!
On to the Swimming and we would like to say congratulations to Charlotte Chattaway, Darren Thoirs, William Ambery, Tom Wood, Dan Stevens and Adam Wright who all took part in the Triple 5km challenge, not only that but they completed all 3 swims on the same day! A tough challenge but we are pleased to report that it was completed, and I’m sure they’re all aching sufficiently for their troubles, well done all!
Next, we would like to congratulate Olivier Bluche who has completed an individual 5km swim here at USSC for the 3rd year in a row! Olivier was also taking part in the Triple 5km challenge and returned to USSC having taken 5 minutes off of his best time last year, from his 2017 swim. This year Olivier was in fantastic form and took a further 3 minutes off of this time on the Saturday; further to this he then completed his challenge on the Sunday in a time of 1hour 24minutes, totalling his time reduction to another 5minutes on his 2018 swim, a fantastic effort!
I’m sure that Olivier will not mind us saying that he could not have done this alone, and his lane partner on both days also deserves a mention. Debs Wright, a participant at USSC for the very first time, completed her fastest 5km of the 2 in 1hour and 22minutes. Debs has also recently been made aware through NHS screening programmes that she has an increased likelihood of Cancer, and therefore the Swimathon and its nominated charities are very close to her heart. As you can see this has not stopped her, what a fantastic effort!
Lastly, we would like to congratulate Laura Mayfield, another of our Triple 5km entries who completed her 3rd 5km at USSC on Sunday evening. Spurred on to finish her challenge, Laura also managed a PB of 4 minutes finishing in a time of 1hour 55minutes, well done Laura!
Once again, we would like to thank and congratulate everyone who entered and supported this year’s event, including the staff and members that volunteered as lane counters.
To view the full results, please visit www.swimathon.org/results
