Making Waves at Lido For British Heart Foundation

Published on: 2 May, 2016
Updated on: 2 May, 2016

More than 60 swimmers swam 1k every hour for 12 hours at Guildford Lido in aid of the British Heart Foundation.

Swimmers pictured at the start of the challenge.

The 1k distance is equivalent to 20 lengths of the lido’s pool, so doing this 12 times, every hour on the hour was no mean feat.

Freedom Leisure, which operates the Guildford Lido on behalf of Guildford Borough Council, welcomed individuals and teams to take part in what was called I Heart To Swim event on Saturday, April 23.

They started at 9am and finished at 9pm and luckily the weather held out to help the swimmers and spectators enjoy the occasion.

Funds are still coming from the participants but more than £2,000 has already been raised, including £560 from Jemma Golby on the Guildford Lido team.

Visiting swimmers praised the warm water, the lovely presentation of the lido and the “wonderful” lifeguarding team which all helped the day progress well.

Freedom Leisure’s lido manager Dave Greenwood said: “I’m pleased to say the event went very well and all the swimmers managed to complete the 12k, 12-hour challenge.

“We are delighted to support this fundraising event for the British Heart Foundation and it was a privilege to host it for this excellent cause.

“Now we’re looking forward to the even bigger challenge next year when we host the 2swim4life event where people are required to swim one mile every hour for 24 hours!”

For now, the swimmers have done extremely well and anyone wishing to top up their fundraising effort can do so at https://www.justgiving.com/teams/Lidoheart2swim