New Swimarathon makes a big splash in King's Lynn

Organisers of a charity swimming event in Lynn are already looking at how to make it even bigger next year.

Thousands of pounds were raised for good causes as more than 150 people, the youngest aged just four, took part in the town’s inaugural Swimarathon, at the St James Pool on Saturday.

And members of the Priory Rotary club, who staged the event, said it had been well received by the 30 teams who took part.

Roy Everett, from the club, said: “They’re saying ‘Brilliant, brilliant, we’re looking forward to next year.’

“We’re looking to fine tune what we do. It’s a learning curve for us.”

He said the club, which hopes to attract twice as many teams to take part in 2020 was already considering extending the event into a second day next year, in an effort to encourage more local schools to get involved.

A group of King’s Lynn Academy students was among those taking part, along with Scouts and Guides and a team representing Lynn’s Filipino community.

The event was organised to raise funds for causes, including West Norfolk Young Carers, West Norfolk Mind, Little Discoverers, the Lavender Hill Mob Theatre Company, the Gaywood Community Bungalow Project and the West Norfolk section of Norfolk and Waveney Headway.

Officials had been hoping to raise around £3,000 in sponsorship, plus donations from supporters on the day.

But, with sponsor money still coming in, the club now expects to raise around £8,000 to share between its nominated charities.

The club has also thanked pool staff for their “fantastic” support of the event, which is based on a long-running charity swimming challenge in Grantham that runs over three days.

Mr Everett said: “We went to Grantham and their operation is so slick.”