Make a splash with Swimathon this weekend and help raise vital funds for Cancer Research UK and Marie Curie. 

Swimathon takes place from Friday, 29th March to Sunday, 31st March and with distances from 400m to 5k, there’s a challenge for everyone.  

If you haven’t swum for a while or just starting out on a fitness programme then 400m or 16 lengths of the pool is a good place to start; if you feel you’re up to a bit more then how about 1.5k (60 lengths) or go for the landmark 100 lengths, covering 2.5k? The ultimate Swimathon challenge is the 200 length 5k, the most popular distance, you’ll need to have put in some training but you will be rewarded with a 5k medal at the end. 

New to 2019 and the mother of all challenges is the Triple 5k – yes you guessed it, that’s three times 5k but fear not it’s not all in one go – you’ll swim 5k three times on three occasions, it’s not for the faint hearted and should only be attempted if you’ve got enough training under your cap. 

If you can’t take part in an organised Swimathon session, try a session at a time and place which works for you with MySwimathon. 

There are both individual and team challenges over the three days at participating pools – there are more than 600 across the UK registered so the chances are there’s one near you – but if you can’t make one of these sessions, then why not try MySwimathon. 

You can choose to swim any time up to Sunday, 7th April  at a location that suits you. Full details about this and how you can still raise funds for Cancer Research UK and Marie Curie are on the website. 

Swimathon began in 1986 in London encouraging people to take up regular exercise and for swimmers to use their local pools. It has gone on to raise more than £48million over the years helping a variety of charities through the efforts and hard work of more than 700,000 swimmers.