|
Swimmers of all abilities, everywhere, are being urged to take the
plunge and help raise money to eradicate polio. The Rotary Global
Swimarathon (RGS), devised by the Rotary Club of Grantham, District
1070*, has set the challenge
to everyone to “grab their goggles.”
On the 25th of February 2012 participants from all six continents of
the world will be represented, including Great Britain and Ireland,
Argentina, South Africa, Australia, Philippines, USA and New
Zealand.
All will dive in with the aim of supporting End Polio Now and
setting a new Guinness World Record. To achieve this, each
participating swimmer needs to complete 100 metres between 1200 and
1300 GMT. The challenge is to record as many swimmers as possible,
all swimming simultaneously, wherever they are in the world, in that
one hour.
The event has also attracted high profile supporters including two
global event ambassadors. Penny Palfrey, Australian ultra-mararathon
open water swimming world record holder, and six-time Paralympic
medallist and five-time World Champion Fran Williamson, who will be
attending the Grantham event. Additionally, current member of Team
GB 2012 Paralympic swimming squad, Claire Cashmore will be swimming
at the RGS in Knaresborough and the ladies of the Team GB Olympic
water polo team have even pledged to take part whilst in training in
Australia.
Event chair Roger Graves, Rotary Club of Grantham, says the idea has
really taken off: “We have been running a local swimarathon for
years here in Grantham and have raised thousands of pounds for good
causes. We decided to see if we could go global and target efforts
towards supporting End Polio Now, Rotary’s drive to eradicate the
disease.”
Since first floating the idea on the internet, via Facebook and
other social media sites, the event has rapidly gone worldwide. Paul
Wilson, RGS social media co-ordinator added “The support from across
the world is just amazing. To have the backing of swimming legends
like Penny, Fran and Claire is fantastic. The 25th of February is
going to be an amazing day and I would urge anyone who is interested
in taking part to contact their local Rotary club which will be
delighted to help. I am sure we are going to raise hundreds of
thousands of pounds and have a great time in the process.”
Interested parties can find their nearest event and need to register
on the official website, www.rotaryglobalswimarathon.org.
Rotary District 1070 in the East Midlands of England is just about
as diverse a region as can be found anywhere in the United Kingdom.
From the shifting coastline of Lincolnshire in the east, across the
fens and flat agricultural plains of Anglia and Lincolnshire almost
to the edge of the Peaks of Derbyshire in the west, the District
includes a number of England's most significant commercial or
industrial cities such as Leicester, Loughborough, Peterborough, and
Northampton. On the other hand, there is a range of quiet,
historical and touristic towns such as Stamford with its Georgian
buildings and annual horse trials at Burghley, and Oakham, on the
edge of England's largest man-made lake, Rutland Water. |
