Horsham Lions' annual charity Swimathon held at Pavilions in the Park

This was the first occasion in a number of years when this event could take place on its usual date in March, which many of the participating teams were delighted about. The regular participants turned out in their droves, which added to the atmosphere. It was also a day for records to be broken.

The event got off to a flying start by Horsham MP Jeremy Quin, who sounded the klaxon to start the first group of teams on their 55 minute session.

Overall 36 teams took part swimming 4180 lengths in the 25 metre main pool at the Pavilions in The Park, this equates to 69.66 miles over the 4 hours the event took place.

The standard of swimming was very high, illustrated by the fact that 24 of the teams completed more than 100 lengths in the 55 minute session. The remaining teams, who were made up of mainly very young participants gave a very credible performances, for which we are all grateful.

High drama occurred in the third session which contained 3 highly competitive teams from Atlantis Swimming Club. As a consequence the event record of 201 lengths was beaten. The record was raised to 210. Well done to The Atlantis team and the seven other teams who pushed them to the record.

The Swimarathon is always held to support a local charity, and this year it is Horsham Branch of The Samaritans, who are celebrating their 50th Anniversary of opening the Horsham Branch.

The participating teams can donate their 50% of the money raised to a charity of their choice. The remaining 50% will be split 60% to Horsham Lions for local distribution and 40% goes to The Samaritans. The total amount pledged on the day of the event is £11,143.17, a fantastic result. This is the best result since the pandemic appeared on the scene.

On behalf of Horsham Lions Club, a delighted President Clare Wilson gives thanks to all participating teams, old and new, to their supporters and sponsors for pledging an impressive amount of money to not only support the local Samaritan’s group but also those in need in our Horsham Community. Without the help of the volunteers this event would not take place, indeed it is the “Silent Majority”, and with this in mind a special thank you to Ann Williams who for many years has taken all the photographs of the participating teams.

Our aim at Horsham Lions is to continue to work for our community and beyond and it would be helpful for other community minded people to join us in this. If you would like to give up just a little of your time to work for your community and have fun doing it, WHY NOT JOIN US?

Being a member of the Lions is about serving your community, having fun and socializing as Swimarathon last Sunday clearly shows.

If you are interested in having more information about Lions of Horsham please contact Lion President Clare Wilson on E-Mail: [email protected] or visit Horsham Lions Website: www.horshamlions.freeuk.com