Rotary Swimarathon Raises Thousands for Local Charities

King’s Lynn Priory Rotary and Hunstanton & District Rotary again combined to put on their Swimarathons, to raise thousands, at the Alive swimming pools at St James, King’s Lynn and Oasis, Hunstanton on Saturday 7th February.

Hundreds of swimmers of all ages and abilities made the big splash for charity, with 33 teams of up to 6 swimmers at Lynn and 7 teams of 4 at Hunstanton, all swimming in relays for their allocated one-hour slot. The Lynn swimmers covered an impressive, combined total of more than 4,000 lengths of the 25-metre pool, a combined distance of more than 70 miles in a hectic 6 hours.

Special mention should go to one of the QEH Rehab teams, who managed an incredible 235 lengths, and to The Lavender Hill Mob Theatre Company, who had only 2 swimmers and still managed a courageous and highly creditable 38 lengths. Three primary schools entered teams, South Wootton Primary, Runcton Holme’s Holy Cross, and Glebe House RotaKids at Hunstanton.

Charities entering teams and benefitting from the event included Break Children’s Homes, Forward Day Centre, Homestart Norfolk, the Lavender Hill Mob Theatre Company, Little Discoverers, Little Miracles King’s Lynn and Fenland, Norfolk and Waveney Mind, The Papillon Project, the Purfleet Trust, the QEH Rehab Unit, St Faith’s Church, Tapping House, West Norfolk Autism Group, and West Norfolk Riding for the Disabled.

Donations are still coming in and have yet to be totalled but will be well into five figures. The funds will be presented to the participating charities at a presentation evening at North Wootton Village Hall on February 19th, when medals will also be presented to selected teams.

Thanks must go to our generous sponsors who make this event possible. The main event sponsor was Adrian Flux, and lane sponsors were Roythorne & Son, Barsby Produce, Stephenson Smart, West Norfolk Glass, Hayes and Storr, G P Financial Management, Kenneth Bush, Freebridge, MKM Building Supplies, Learning Resources and Premier Voice/Uptech. Sponsors for Oasis were Specsavers Hunstanton and Mr Bun the Baker.

Ken Banks, heading up the event at King’s Lynn, paid a special thank you to the pool staff from Alive Leisure, and to all the volunteers on the day. He said “it was a fantastic day with a great atmosphere of fun and enthusiasm from all who took part. At the end of the day, the amounts raised for charity were well beyond our expectations, making the whole event incredibly worthwhile.”

Next year’s events will be on Saturday February 6th, where the two Rotary Clubs hope for another successful and enjoyable event.