Swimmers who go to great lengths for centre charity

MORE than 20 swimmers raised £1,600 for charity.

The annual swimathon took place at the Henley leisure centre pool on December 17.

It was raising money for the Chiltern Centre, off Greys Road, which provides overnight and weekend care for young disabled adults.

Swimmers aimed to complete 100 repetitions of 100m and more than half completed the full 10km distance.

Mike and Sophie Whitworth, who run Swim to Live, organised the event for the 10th consecutive year.

Mr Whitworth said the feat is “iconic” in the swimming world and takes place worldwide at this time of year.

He said: “One hundred 100ms in swimming is a very iconic thing to do.

“It’s a kind of badge of honour and a lot of swimmers around the world will do this at this time of year as a club event or trying to raise money for something.

“It’s such a well-known swim set to do in the UK and around the world, there will be loads of groups in Australia, Canada, America, who would have probably done a similar event because it’s a way to kind of close off the year and all of the hard training. It’s also a bit of fun and it brings people together.”

Mr Whitworth said the swimmers were a mix of young children and adults but elite athletes Natasha Harris-White and Matt McQuillan also took part.

He said everyone who completed the full 10km did so in under three-and-a-half hours, with the fastest finishing in two-and-a-half.

Mr Whitworth said: “We started at 6pm and everybody had their own little personal targets and some people wanted to do 5km, 6km, some people wanted to do the full 10km.

“All 16 who did the full 10km did it in three-and-a-half hours, with the fastest doing it in two-and-a-half hours.

“In the that lane we had three boys and girls from the Henley junior tri club. One of the guys, Josh Drummond, he’s done it before, so it was his second time, and he went a kilometre further than he did last year.

“It makes it easier in the pool to break it down by ability, otherwise you get a bit of carnage.

“We had one man, Matt McQuillan, he couldn’t make it on the Wednesday night, so he went along and did it on his own last Friday night.” Sophia Luijten, 11, who last year was the youngest swimmer to complete the full distance, recreated her efforts this year beating her previous time by one hour.

Mr Whitworth said: “Last year she did it in four hours and this year she did under three hours, that was amazing.”

Izzy Ansell, marketing manager for the Chiltern Centre, said: “A huge thank-you to the amazing swimmers for raising funds for us for the 10th year running.

“Special mention to Mike and Sophie Whitworth and their ‘Swim to Live’ team for completing an epic 10km in the pool — what an achievement.

“We’re so grateful for the continued support, dedication and generosity. You inspire us year after year.”