Over 100 fundraise in Rotary’s Swimathon at Sidmouth

Sidmouth Herald News Editor, Di Bowerman, gives an inside view of taking part in Sidmouth’s charity Swimathon.

I approached the edge of the pool on Saturday night with some trepidation. Our Herald Sharks team had been depleted – down from seven to just three.

Here we were, a pensioner, a smoker and a young reporter, up against some strong, serious swimmers, in the last hour of the Rotary Club of Sidmouth’s Swimathon 2010, which this year is in aid of Sidmouth Living With Cancer’s mini-bus appeal.

The claxon went and I started from the shallow end, swimming the only stroke I am confident in – breast stroke.

I did two lengths and felt exhausted. Then Belinda Bennett, Editor of the Midweek Herald, did a length, and Midweek reporter Katy Griffin managed a laudable three lengths of the full-sized pool.

It was then, feeling exhausted already, that we formed a cunning plan. We began swimming just one length at a time and resting for two. We kept going for the 55 minutes and clocked up a creditable 60 lengths, cheered on by injured team mate Stefan Gordon and Katy’s friend Natasha.

By the end we felt we could have carried on for longer and plan to make swimming a regular part of our weekly routine from now on.

Between us we hope to have raised around �300, which I hope Archant will match-fund.

The final figure will not be known until sponsorship is in from all the swimmers who took part.

*See next week’s Herald for team photos taken by Rotarian Iain Macmillan.