Rotarians are inviting local swimmers to take part in their 26th Wilmslow Swimathon to be held at Wilmslow Leisure Centre in April.
The Rotary Club of Alderley Edge & Bollin Valley, who started organising the Swimathon in 1988, have teamed up with the Rotary Club of Wilmslow Dean to organise this popular event.
Since 1988 well over two thousand swimmers have taken part raising over £145,000 for many local and national charities.
The money Rotary raises will go to flood relief victims who have suffered throughout Cumbria and Lancashire at the hands of the storms and torrential downpours earlier this winter.
Andrew Henshall, swimathon organiser, said "It seemed a very appropriate charity to support given that we're asking all participants to get wet and have a fun evening in the water."
However, the Swimathon has the added attraction that the teams are allowed to keep up to half of the money raised for their own funds or a charity of their choice.
This year's event will take place on the evenings of Saturday 9th April and Saturday 16th April at Wilmslow Leisure Centre and the start times will be 5.30pm or 6.30pm.
Andrew explained "The gist of the Swimathon is very simple. Each team consists of six swimmers who swim on a relay basis. Your team will be allocated a lane in the pool and how you organise the team's swim is left up to you. Some teams have their strongest swimmers swim several consecutive lengths to give their team mates a longer rest. Teams of less than six swimmers may enter but this means more swimming by its members.
"Each evening is divided into hourly slots starting at 5.30pm or 6.30pm and the aim is to swim as many lengths of the pool as you can in 55 minutes. The other five minutes is for change over. The Wilmslow pool is 25 metres long and an average team will swim around 100 lengths during their slot, though many swim well over 120 lengths. Each team member can expect to swim around 15-20 lengths with a rest of about 3 minutes in between. This is well within the capabilities of the average (unfit) swimmer. Water wings have been known. The event is a bit of fun not a race, and supporters are welcome."
Organisers are trying to encourage more businesses to enter teams as well as more youngsters to take part. The Swimathon is an event for all ages and last year's event had swimmers taking part whose ages ranged from 5 to 70.
Click here to download an entry form, the closing date for entries is Friday 25th March.
