Swimathon Celebrates 30th Anniversary

Swimathon, the world’s biggest fundraising swim, is 30 years old next year and over the last 29 years has raised £46 million which has been distributed among 36 different charities. 

Swimathon began in 1986 with a pilot which was a London only initiative, organised by the Guild of London Bath Managers to encourage pools to get more people swimming. The launch of the annual event was in 1988, Swimathon has since seen almost 700,000 participants at over 1000 different pools across the UK, getting involved, swimming for the challenge and raising money for charity. 

Swimathon President and Olympic gold-medallist Duncan Goodhew said, “For the last 29 years it has been a real joy to see Swimathon develop and mature into the great event it is today. Nowadays there are thousands of well organised sports participation events, mostly running and cycling, which raise money for charity but that wasn’t the case in 1988 when we launched the annual event. Swimathon really was ahead of its time giving people a chance to get active and do some good at the same time.”

The official charity of Swimathon 2017 is Marie Curie. The event is managed by Limelight Sports and sponsor this year is swimwear and swim equipment specialists Zoggs.

The UK Sponsorship Awards gives focus to mass participation events with its new category Harnessing The Power Of The Crowd – The Most Effective Use Of Mass Participation Sponsorship. More information can be found here http://www.sponsorship-awards.co.uk/categories