41 days to go. Can't tell you how fantastic it is to hear about all the different local events being planned around the world for Global Swimarathon. Have been doing some quick calculations around how many swimmers we can expect for the record attempt. As I've said before, we're inviting 500 swimmers to our Grantham Meres event. Elsewhere in the UK we've already had a figure of 240 swimmers for the 4 Peterborough clubs and 200 swimmers expected at the Knaresborough event. Add that to a figure of 60 given from the Rotary Club of Sawantwadi last night, just before they celebrated charter night on the very day India was declared Polio free for a full year, and there's 1000 swimmers already.
Now over in District 9550 Australia, the Rotary Club of Townsville , led by President Marcel McCleod are really leading the way. Not only have they brought us legendary open water swimmer marathon superstar Penny Palfrey, they have managed to book up just about every pool in the town. Get this - they are planning to have 1000 swimmers taking part!!
So there you go - 2000 swimmers in just 5 clubs. With Melton Mowbray Rotary confirmation earlier today we already have 47 clubs officially entered. The current record stands at 2533. With an average entry expected of 100 per club I genuinely believe we could be looking at between 10 and 20 thousand swimmers - what an incredible message of unity and determination to End Polio Now!!
It's no longer a question of CAN WE BREAK THE RECORD? its simply a question of BY HOW MUCH!!
With 3 weeks to go to our own Rotary Grantham Swimarathon weekend, last night I headed down for a swimming session. I've set myself a personal goal of raising £2012 , swimming 201.2 lengths over the weekend, doing the 100 metres in Global Swimarathon and finally the Great North Swim Open Water event in Lake Windermere , Cumbria in June. http://www.justgiving.com/PaulWilsonRotary
There I was, last session of the day, in that 25 metre, 8 lane pool, swimming on my own. The thought of this quiet , empty pool, about to be transformed into centre stage for so many thousands of people , raising so many thousands , maybe even hundreds of thousands for such an incredible cause -just takes the breath away
LETS GO FOR IT!!!
Showing posts with label Rotary clubs End Polio Now Global Swimarathon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rotary clubs End Polio Now Global Swimarathon. Show all posts
Saturday, 14 January 2012
Wednesday, 11 January 2012
Heartfelt Thankyous for everyone that's helped us along the way PART II!
44 days to go. After a frenzy of sign up activity yesterday its calmed down a little which gives me time to continue with my story of the event so far and the huge thank yous that are very much due to some very key people.
Certainly plenty of activity going on though all the same - last night I spoke with our 1070 District Chair about a Peterborough Rotary Global Swimarathon event, and I'm very pleased to share that there are no fewer than 4 separate Rotary clubs there combining together to take part in the event - and none of them are on the official registration radar just yet . Coupled with new interest from Rotaract clubs in Romania, and news of 2 more clubs in District 9550 - Susanne Rea , Ida Portella, Marcel McLeod - you are doing a wonderful job in spreading the word!!, looks like we are more than on track for reaching 50 clubs entered by the end of this week.
As I said though today's post is about sharing some more of this fantastic journey into unchartered Global Rotary territory and acknowledging the amazing contributions of so many people who've helped us along the way.
Back in October, Roger Graves was given a prime speakers slot at our District 1070 conference, just prior to the main speaker the one and only Anne Widdecombe. He did an amazing job in pitching the event, and coupled with stunning video footage provided by Gordon Seabrook who unbelievably does all of our Swimarathon footage at no charge, we soon had a powerful message to share with clubs all around the world.
Here in the UK, there was a lot of RIBI social media activity around the #WorldPolioDay campaign, through working on that, we became in regular contact with District 1140 Governor Mukesh Malotra. His constant campaigning on our behalf and for the End Polio Now campaign made a huge difference in terms of attracting followers and attention. Despite a serious illness set back towards the end of the year from which I'm very pleased to say he is gradually recovering , he is still incredibly supportive to us.
During that twittering #rotaryendpolio campaign, I really enjoyed working with Sarah Bosomworth - another fairly new Rotarian from the Rotary Club of Knaresborough. I was really impressed by her efforts to get our message out there, and she very quickly took on the challenge of pitching the Global Swimarathon to her club. She completely refused to let any setbacks stand in the way and get an event set up and her determination made me have no hesitation in commiting to join her in taking part in the June 2012 Great North open water swim for End Polio Now.
On twitter, we had attempted to get in touch with various swimmers in our search for a UK ambassador. We were extremely delighted to be followed back by Fran Williamson, a recently retired Paralympic and 5 time world champion swimmer. But what really struck us on reading her blog info http://www.fran-williamson.co.uk/ was how committed she was to supporting charities -including support for local Cambridge charities and her role as ambassador for @whizzkidz a brilliant national charity to help kids with mobility issues. Fran was very supportive of our initial enquiry and put us in touch with her agent (and partner) Chris Whitaker. Right from the first conversation with Chris I knew we'd found our ambassador. Both of them were really passionate about what they do, about supporting charities and making a difference. Its been such a pleasure working with them ever since I can't tell you. We met them both in person up at the Disabilty Sports Events England National Swimming short course championships up in Sheffield in November and they were just the nicest, most down-to-earth people you could ever meet.
We had another special trip to Sheffield back in early November. Our Swimarathon Chairman - and I'll get to the thanks for him in another separate blog - he truly deserves it - was nominated for Fundraiser of the year by the National ASA governing body of swimming , and we were guests at the Swimtastic awards 2011.
What an incredible day we had I'll never forget it. Along with all the other award nominees , ordinary every day swimmers of all ages from the length and breadth of the land , we spent an afternoon "swimming with the stars" - including the whole team GB waterpolo ladies olympic squad, Divers, synchronized swimmers , Junior , Olympic and Paralympic swimmers. As a life-long sports fan I was completely star struck - but what was most striking was just how friendly and approachable everyone was. Naturally we brought the Global Swimarathon tshirts along for signatures, but what was great was just how interested everyone was in the event. The Team GB Waterpolo ladies, including ex Grantham player Vickie Bowen, Angie Winstanley Smith and many others all said they'd be up for taking part even though they were likely to be in Australia. We also met Claire Cashmore, a Leeds based swimmer and friend of Fran Williamson, who said her Dad was in Rotary and she'd love to help - she certainly did that - she's now special guest at the Knaresborough event - told you Sarah was good at organizing it!!
Roger actually won the special achievement award in recognition of 22 years raising £500,000 for local causes - just wonderful. Here's the moment captured on my dodgy camera video, introduced by swimming legend Steve Parry http://youtu.be/02t9hjqXqgY
To be continued in Part III coming soon!
Certainly plenty of activity going on though all the same - last night I spoke with our 1070 District Chair about a Peterborough Rotary Global Swimarathon event, and I'm very pleased to share that there are no fewer than 4 separate Rotary clubs there combining together to take part in the event - and none of them are on the official registration radar just yet . Coupled with new interest from Rotaract clubs in Romania, and news of 2 more clubs in District 9550 - Susanne Rea , Ida Portella, Marcel McLeod - you are doing a wonderful job in spreading the word!!, looks like we are more than on track for reaching 50 clubs entered by the end of this week.
As I said though today's post is about sharing some more of this fantastic journey into unchartered Global Rotary territory and acknowledging the amazing contributions of so many people who've helped us along the way.
Back in October, Roger Graves was given a prime speakers slot at our District 1070 conference, just prior to the main speaker the one and only Anne Widdecombe. He did an amazing job in pitching the event, and coupled with stunning video footage provided by Gordon Seabrook who unbelievably does all of our Swimarathon footage at no charge, we soon had a powerful message to share with clubs all around the world.
Here in the UK, there was a lot of RIBI social media activity around the #WorldPolioDay campaign, through working on that, we became in regular contact with District 1140 Governor Mukesh Malotra. His constant campaigning on our behalf and for the End Polio Now campaign made a huge difference in terms of attracting followers and attention. Despite a serious illness set back towards the end of the year from which I'm very pleased to say he is gradually recovering , he is still incredibly supportive to us.
During that twittering #rotaryendpolio campaign, I really enjoyed working with Sarah Bosomworth - another fairly new Rotarian from the Rotary Club of Knaresborough. I was really impressed by her efforts to get our message out there, and she very quickly took on the challenge of pitching the Global Swimarathon to her club. She completely refused to let any setbacks stand in the way and get an event set up and her determination made me have no hesitation in commiting to join her in taking part in the June 2012 Great North open water swim for End Polio Now.
On twitter, we had attempted to get in touch with various swimmers in our search for a UK ambassador. We were extremely delighted to be followed back by Fran Williamson, a recently retired Paralympic and 5 time world champion swimmer. But what really struck us on reading her blog info http://www.fran-williamson.co.uk/ was how committed she was to supporting charities -including support for local Cambridge charities and her role as ambassador for @whizzkidz a brilliant national charity to help kids with mobility issues. Fran was very supportive of our initial enquiry and put us in touch with her agent (and partner) Chris Whitaker. Right from the first conversation with Chris I knew we'd found our ambassador. Both of them were really passionate about what they do, about supporting charities and making a difference. Its been such a pleasure working with them ever since I can't tell you. We met them both in person up at the Disabilty Sports Events England National Swimming short course championships up in Sheffield in November and they were just the nicest, most down-to-earth people you could ever meet.
We had another special trip to Sheffield back in early November. Our Swimarathon Chairman - and I'll get to the thanks for him in another separate blog - he truly deserves it - was nominated for Fundraiser of the year by the National ASA governing body of swimming , and we were guests at the Swimtastic awards 2011.
What an incredible day we had I'll never forget it. Along with all the other award nominees , ordinary every day swimmers of all ages from the length and breadth of the land , we spent an afternoon "swimming with the stars" - including the whole team GB waterpolo ladies olympic squad, Divers, synchronized swimmers , Junior , Olympic and Paralympic swimmers. As a life-long sports fan I was completely star struck - but what was most striking was just how friendly and approachable everyone was. Naturally we brought the Global Swimarathon tshirts along for signatures, but what was great was just how interested everyone was in the event. The Team GB Waterpolo ladies, including ex Grantham player Vickie Bowen, Angie Winstanley Smith and many others all said they'd be up for taking part even though they were likely to be in Australia. We also met Claire Cashmore, a Leeds based swimmer and friend of Fran Williamson, who said her Dad was in Rotary and she'd love to help - she certainly did that - she's now special guest at the Knaresborough event - told you Sarah was good at organizing it!!
Roger actually won the special achievement award in recognition of 22 years raising £500,000 for local causes - just wonderful. Here's the moment captured on my dodgy camera video, introduced by swimming legend Steve Parry http://youtu.be/02t9hjqXqgY
To be continued in Part III coming soon!
Monday, 9 January 2012
An Incredible Global community of swimmers united to End Polio Now!
46 days to go.
Another milestone reached, as we can announce our 40th full registered club taking part in the event.
The Rotary Club of Mawddach in District 1180 Wales, became our first entry from Wales, and our 17th overall in Great Britain and Ireland - many thanks to Rotarian Beryl Clark for registering your club.
We're reaching ever more countries as well - just today Ellen Yu from the Rotaract club of Shanghai, China confirmed that their club had voted to take part - so very much look forward to them joining the list.
Sometimes, rather than words, a simple picture will suffice. Here's a first draft map capturing all of the clubs signed up to date around the world - just wonderful to see it all here
View Rotary Global Swimarathon participants map
Another milestone reached, as we can announce our 40th full registered club taking part in the event.
The Rotary Club of Mawddach in District 1180 Wales, became our first entry from Wales, and our 17th overall in Great Britain and Ireland - many thanks to Rotarian Beryl Clark for registering your club.
We're reaching ever more countries as well - just today Ellen Yu from the Rotaract club of Shanghai, China confirmed that their club had voted to take part - so very much look forward to them joining the list.
Sometimes, rather than words, a simple picture will suffice. Here's a first draft map capturing all of the clubs signed up to date around the world - just wonderful to see it all here
View Rotary Global Swimarathon participants map
Saturday, 7 January 2012
Heartfelt thankyou's for everyone that's helped us along the way - Part 1
48 Days to go. Today I just wanted to take a few moments to reflect and acknowledge the remarkable support of some key people in the Rotary and sporting communities that have transformed swimarathon from a local project with a dream into a wonderful worldwide charity event.
Back in April 2011, when we first set out to make contacts with the wider Rotary world, we set up a facebook presence and gradually started getting the message out there. We had some great help via Rotarian Simone Carat Collins chair of the recently founded Rotary on Social Networking Fellowship and all the members, which really helped us get established and build up some supporters.
Next big breakthrough was when Rotarian Noelene Jorgensen of Port Elizabeth Rotary in District 9320 South Africa, picked up news of her event - and wow did she run with it. As a keen swimmer herself , with lots of local contacts in the swimming community, she immediately went out and got a pool secured, and then set about spreading the word throughout her district. She even invited us to attend her District conference to speak about the event which unfortunately we were unable to attend. Her support has resulted in at least 4 South African clubs signing up to date , including 3 in her District.
Meanwhile over in Australia, Rotarian Susanne Rea, fundraising officer for The Rotary Foundation (TRF) in District 9550 Queensland , continued to spread the word about our project at every possible District opportunity, which resulted in an extraordinary breakthrough. Marcel McLeod President of Townsville Rotary, had been talking with legendary Open water marathon swimmer and distance world record holder Penny Palfrey (based in Townsville) about a swimming event for End Polio Now, and when Marcel and Penny heard about our project from Susanne, rather than seeing it as a conflicting project, they immediately embraced it and suggested that Penny could even be our first Global event ambassador. It was absolutely overwhelming for us back in the UK, to have such an international swimming star backing our event.
We've had so much amazing support from them both, Marcel has done a huge amount of work publicizing and producing the materials to support the event as effectively the International branch of our swimarathon committee, Penny has consistently taken time out of her amazingly busy schedule to record video messages, and brought us a huge new dimension of open water swimmers in Ireland, the US and all around the world lining up alongside us and working with local Rotary clubs. Susanne has just been unbelievable , continually championing our cause with the remarkable result of 5 District 9550 clubs signed up including her own, even though she can't be there on the day - I had the pleasure of meeting her in person during her recent London visit, just brilliant to see the friendships and fellowships formed from working on this event.
In August, during a visit to our club and District by RIBI President Ray Burman, we were delighted by his extremely positive reaction and support when we pitched our global swimarathon plans to him. Ever since he has continued to support us via his facebook page, and even highlighted our event first in his quarterly video message over the summer. He helped us secure the support of RIBI nationwide PR for Global Swimarathon and ever since we've been in touch with the fantastic head of PR Rebecca Warner it's made a huge difference with 3 nationwide press releases in December, Jan and Feb. To top it all during his District tour of District 1030 at end of February, he will be a the Rotary Club of Knaresborough event as their special guest
While writing this, it's dawned on me that I can't possibly cover all the all in one post - so as they say in all the best stories - to be continued!!
One thing is for sure , particularly for me as a novice Rotarian, in my first ever year , the family of Rotary, the worldwide fellowship, the heart and dedication of its members to service above self is almost beyond words, and beyond measurement. It will stay with me all my life - of that I am sure!
Back in April 2011, when we first set out to make contacts with the wider Rotary world, we set up a facebook presence and gradually started getting the message out there. We had some great help via Rotarian Simone Carat Collins chair of the recently founded Rotary on Social Networking Fellowship and all the members, which really helped us get established and build up some supporters.
Next big breakthrough was when Rotarian Noelene Jorgensen of Port Elizabeth Rotary in District 9320 South Africa, picked up news of her event - and wow did she run with it. As a keen swimmer herself , with lots of local contacts in the swimming community, she immediately went out and got a pool secured, and then set about spreading the word throughout her district. She even invited us to attend her District conference to speak about the event which unfortunately we were unable to attend. Her support has resulted in at least 4 South African clubs signing up to date , including 3 in her District.
Meanwhile over in Australia, Rotarian Susanne Rea, fundraising officer for The Rotary Foundation (TRF) in District 9550 Queensland , continued to spread the word about our project at every possible District opportunity, which resulted in an extraordinary breakthrough. Marcel McLeod President of Townsville Rotary, had been talking with legendary Open water marathon swimmer and distance world record holder Penny Palfrey (based in Townsville) about a swimming event for End Polio Now, and when Marcel and Penny heard about our project from Susanne, rather than seeing it as a conflicting project, they immediately embraced it and suggested that Penny could even be our first Global event ambassador. It was absolutely overwhelming for us back in the UK, to have such an international swimming star backing our event.
We've had so much amazing support from them both, Marcel has done a huge amount of work publicizing and producing the materials to support the event as effectively the International branch of our swimarathon committee, Penny has consistently taken time out of her amazingly busy schedule to record video messages, and brought us a huge new dimension of open water swimmers in Ireland, the US and all around the world lining up alongside us and working with local Rotary clubs. Susanne has just been unbelievable , continually championing our cause with the remarkable result of 5 District 9550 clubs signed up including her own, even though she can't be there on the day - I had the pleasure of meeting her in person during her recent London visit, just brilliant to see the friendships and fellowships formed from working on this event.
In August, during a visit to our club and District by RIBI President Ray Burman, we were delighted by his extremely positive reaction and support when we pitched our global swimarathon plans to him. Ever since he has continued to support us via his facebook page, and even highlighted our event first in his quarterly video message over the summer. He helped us secure the support of RIBI nationwide PR for Global Swimarathon and ever since we've been in touch with the fantastic head of PR Rebecca Warner it's made a huge difference with 3 nationwide press releases in December, Jan and Feb. To top it all during his District tour of District 1030 at end of February, he will be a the Rotary Club of Knaresborough event as their special guest
While writing this, it's dawned on me that I can't possibly cover all the all in one post - so as they say in all the best stories - to be continued!!
One thing is for sure , particularly for me as a novice Rotarian, in my first ever year , the family of Rotary, the worldwide fellowship, the heart and dedication of its members to service above self is almost beyond words, and beyond measurement. It will stay with me all my life - of that I am sure!
Wednesday, 4 January 2012
Like a child on Christmas Morning!
51 days to go.
Well the Christmas holidays are behind us now, and new global Swimarathon enquiries are coming in thick and fast. Right now I feel exactly that amazing sense of anticipation and wonder as I did waking up on Christmas morning all those years ago.
In this case, substitute stockings for Inboxes and facebook pages, but you get the drift !!!
Yesterday alone, our twitter appeal for new followers went out to 120,000 twitter users thanks to Rotary International , which brought us brand new and very positive enquiries from Rotaract Shanghai in China, from Rotaract Westminster in London as well as dozens of new supporters.
Just this morning in the space of 30 minutes we had two new sign ups from District 9550 Australia clubs , taking the total of Australia and New Zealand participants to 9 out of the 38 clubs registered - an incredible effort given the time zone differences involved.
So many exciting developments, so much happening - just like a certain man in a red suit, I can see we are going to be very busy on 25th - every boy and girl has been very good!!
Well the Christmas holidays are behind us now, and new global Swimarathon enquiries are coming in thick and fast. Right now I feel exactly that amazing sense of anticipation and wonder as I did waking up on Christmas morning all those years ago.
In this case, substitute stockings for Inboxes and facebook pages, but you get the drift !!!
Yesterday alone, our twitter appeal for new followers went out to 120,000 twitter users thanks to Rotary International , which brought us brand new and very positive enquiries from Rotaract Shanghai in China, from Rotaract Westminster in London as well as dozens of new supporters.
Just this morning in the space of 30 minutes we had two new sign ups from District 9550 Australia clubs , taking the total of Australia and New Zealand participants to 9 out of the 38 clubs registered - an incredible effort given the time zone differences involved.
So many exciting developments, so much happening - just like a certain man in a red suit, I can see we are going to be very busy on 25th - every boy and girl has been very good!!
Tuesday, 3 January 2012
Great examples of local events for Global Swimarathon!
52 days to go!
For today's entry, I'd like to highlight a couple of clubs here in the UK who have worked extremely hard in preparing their participation in Global Swimarathon and to share with you some of their event plans.
Firstly the Rotary Club of Brampton and Longtown in Cumbria. Thanks to fantastic work by Kevin Walsh http://www.twitter.com/kwalsh601 over the last few months, they have the very appropriately named "The Pools" venue booked in Carlisle, they are already actively recruiting participants and as you'll see in the article below they even have the "End Polio Now" message lighting up the town!
http://cumbria24.com/news/2011/12/28/rotary-global-swimarathon-end-polio#.TvtKISr4BuE.twitter
Across the other side of the UK, Sarah Bosomworth http://www.twitter.com/sarah_nepal2011 has also done a terrific job in getting the Rotary Club of Knaresborough, Yorkshire ready for the event. As well as securing a booking for all 8 lanes of the local Knaresborough pool, they will be joined by current UK Paralympic Swimmer Claire Cashmore and RIBI President Ray Burman amongst the many distinguished guests of honour.
http://harrogate-news.co.uk/2011/12/31/swimarathon-benefit-rotarys-polio-eradication-campaign/
Over the coming days and weeks, we'll be highlighting many more event details, and will share with you a full list of all the venues taking part around the globe - watch this space!
For today's entry, I'd like to highlight a couple of clubs here in the UK who have worked extremely hard in preparing their participation in Global Swimarathon and to share with you some of their event plans.
Firstly the Rotary Club of Brampton and Longtown in Cumbria. Thanks to fantastic work by Kevin Walsh http://www.twitter.com/kwalsh601 over the last few months, they have the very appropriately named "The Pools" venue booked in Carlisle, they are already actively recruiting participants and as you'll see in the article below they even have the "End Polio Now" message lighting up the town!
http://cumbria24.com/news/2011/12/28/rotary-global-swimarathon-end-polio#.TvtKISr4BuE.twitter
Across the other side of the UK, Sarah Bosomworth http://www.twitter.com/sarah_nepal2011 has also done a terrific job in getting the Rotary Club of Knaresborough, Yorkshire ready for the event. As well as securing a booking for all 8 lanes of the local Knaresborough pool, they will be joined by current UK Paralympic Swimmer Claire Cashmore and RIBI President Ray Burman amongst the many distinguished guests of honour.
http://harrogate-news.co.uk/2011/12/31/swimarathon-benefit-rotarys-polio-eradication-campaign/
Over the coming days and weeks, we'll be highlighting many more event details, and will share with you a full list of all the venues taking part around the globe - watch this space!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)