Saffron Walden’s leisure centre makes a splash for Marie Curie Swimathon

SWIMMERS in Saffron Walden made a massive splash for charity by completing the Swimathon 2011 challenge.

Lord Butler Leisure Centre was one of almost 600 pools which took part in the nationwide event which is aimed at raising money for Marie Curie Cancer Care and The Swimathon Foundation.

At Lord Butler pool over 40 participants of all ages and abilities were able to make their splash count, swimming up an incredible 27,500 metres – and raised over �1000.

Contact manager Beckie Reynolds said: “What a day! All the staff and supporters really got fired up and the evening was a huge success. Goodness knows what we’d have done without them all! We had a variety of teams and individual performances swimming distances of up to 5km.”

Swimathon 2011 has a challenge to suit everyone with swimmers challenging themselves to complete up to 5km as an individual or as a team with their friends and family.

Head of swimming and children’s activities for Leisure Connection, which runs the centre, Tara Stroud, said: “The Marie Curie Swimathon was such an important event for the local community and it was touching to see how many swimmers arrived, if not to swim, but to show their support for such a worthy cause.”

Marie Curie Cancer Care is one of the UK’s largest charities. Employing more than 2700 nurses, doctors and other healthcare professionals, it expects to provide care to around 29,000 terminally ill patients in the community and in its hospices this year and is the largest provider of hospice beds outside the NHS.

For more information about Marie Curie Cancer Care, please visit mariecurie.org.uk