A lasting legacy of swimarathons all over the world!

34 days to go. In exactly 2 weeks time, hundreds of swimmers young and old will be descending on our local Grantham Meres leisure centre to take part in our annual swimarathon event. Don't panic, we're not starting global swimarathon event early - there's still 5 weeks to go on that front!

From the afternoon of Friday 3rd of February until late afternoon on Sunday 5th, the whole pool is completely given over to Swimarathon. Over 1400 people will swim, at least 60% of which are under 16, thanks to the fantastic support of local schools and community clubs. Our entire 50 strong Rotary club, plus Inner wheel members, members of our evening club will be there to click every single lane, register , announce, organize , entertain. We all love doing it so much, the atmosphere of good will and excitement is really intoxicating. We have ongoing corporate sponsorship support of several local businesses, which means that all of the admin costs are completely covered and every single penny raised goes direct to local good causes.

 The truly magical thing is, the event is very much woven into the fabric of the town -it is by far and away the biggest annual fundraiser in our local area, and its popularity and reputation has just grown and grown.

Please watch this video -it really tells it's own story. Do look out for our ever energetic Swimarathon chair Roger Graves giving you a behind the scenes access all areas tour.

We'll keep you posted on all this year's swimarathon event action. On Friday afternoon we are excited to be welcoming none other than RIBI President Ray Burman to open proceedings and with a special Olympic theme in place, we are all set to make this the biggest and best event ever.

It is in all of our interests to raise the profile of Rotary clubs in our local towns and cities, and a swimarathon event really does have all the special ingredients, of a fun filled, family centred event to bring people together.

It's also a brilliant way to find new members. One of our newest members, recently said that what finally convinced him to join our club was swimarathon. As chair of his local village committee, he attended our annual charity presentation night, where over 50 local causes apply for and receive grants from the Swimarathon fund. Rotary in action, Rotary in the community.

Wonderful to think that through Global Swimarathon, the seeds are now sown for at least another 50 Swimarathon events to become established around the world - we can all share our experiences and ideas and grow them together - how amazing is that!!