Congleton Rotary 'Swimathon'

The 'Swimathon', organised each year by The Rotary Club of Congleton, began in 1992.  The event is in support of nominated charities and organisations, chosen afresh each year.  Groups of roughly 4 to 8 people get together to form relay teams to swim in Congleton Leisure Centre's pool.  During the Friday evening and Saturday of the Swimathon weekend each team books a one-hour slot.  During that time they will see how many lengths thay can swim in relay in the 25 metre pool.  There are six lanes and plenty of friendly competition between teams swimming during the same one-hour slot.  Currently, more than 70 teams take part, made up of 400-500 swimmers and swimming a distance of the order of 12,000 lengths.  At 25 metres per length that amounts to more than 480 km or 300 miles.

In the weeks before the event, each swimmer looks for sponsors, either for a fixed sum or for an amount per length.  The initial Swimathon raised £9,634.  Nowadays, the amount raised is roughly double that so that, in the first 18 years of the event, more than £250,000 were raised.

Each year, Trinity Church enters a number of teams.  In 2009, the Trinity Turtles pictured here completed 170 lengths in the 55 minutes available.  Amongst the teams swimming alongside them, the 9 members of the Trinity Brownies team completed 151 lengths.  This was a particularly remarkable achievement given that one parent commented beforehand that she didn't know that her daughter was able to swim a single length!  And in addition to both of these teams, the six swimmers of the Trinity Guides team achieved 91 lengths.  They too included one girl who had never before swum more than one length.  All in all, a remarkable achievement and great fun too.

In 2010 the two teams of “Swimathon” swimmers from Trinity reached new levels of exhaustion. The Brownies were determined to beat the grown-ups and thanks to a certain amount of collusion with the organisers (who we feel sure managed to mix up the team names) the Brownies, at least on paper, came out a few lengths to the good, at 195 lengths.  Our minister and the other adult swimmers send their begrudging congratulations to them!  Our adult swimmers (picture below) raised £760.60 and our Brownie team raised £279.50, making a total of £1040.10. Our Boys’ Brigade and Guide Companies also fielded teams and raised a further £150+. Gift Aid will add a further £200 to the total. Many thanks to everyone who supported our teams.