In aid of Leukaemia Research and Thames Valley Air Ambulance
They reached their Summit and raised £4,738
As usual Woodcote, Goring, Streatley and surrounding villages, have joined in with great enthusiasm and generosity, bringing the Swim a Mountain 2008 total to £4,738.
The swimmers had to choose a Mountain and swim the equivalent amount of metres as the height of the mountain.
Swimmers taking part were members of Woodcote Swimming Club, Aquafit, Lane Swimming groups and swimmers from Castrol.
The most popular mountain was Ben Nevis (59 lengths) and many brave teams tackled Everest (385 lengths)
Everyone tackled their Mountain with great enthusiasm, all managing to reach their summit and most swimming much further than they ever expected. The youngest children, in particular, were amazing.
The youngest swimmer was Lois Joslyn aged 5 who swam The Eiffel Tower (16 lengths); the oldest swimmer, a very youthful Arthur Goldsmith, easily conquering Ben Nevis.
One team of children from Woodcote Swimming Club, Ellie Jones, Sophia Forrester, Annabel Clark, Jessica Hogan, Jonathan Hall, Megan Hill, Katie and Emily Cole, managed to conquer Everest and then went on to swim Mount Cook as well, a total of 550 lengths.
Other teams of children managing to conquer Everest were: Olivia Hurrell's team and the Daltons/Backs/Forrester and Goode team.
One adult team also conquered Everest, they were the Three Turners and a Welshman. The Turner family have supported our sponsored events on many occasions, Julie swam in the first sponsored swim in 1988.
The Castrol team have also been enthusiastic supporters of our events. This time they conquered a range of mountains, swimming 1,176 lengths between them.
Brian Burscough, a swimming teacher from Woodcote Swimming Club swam the furthest, 270 lengths in 2hrs 14minutes.
Special thanks go to Rhiannon Evans who swam Snowdon and raised £653. Well done Rhiannon, an amazing effort.
The George Marsh Trophy for special achievement this year went to our youngest swimmer Lois Joslyn, well done Lois.
Congratulations and many thanks go to everyone who took part in Swim a Mountain 2008, those counting the lengths and everyone who sponsored them so generously. You were all amazing!
20 year History of these Events
For those of you that haven't been in the area very long, I thought you may be interested in the history of this event. I organised the first Sponsored Swim in 1988 in aid of Leukaemia Research when my father, George Marsh, was diagnosed with Leukaemia. Dad managed to swim in that event himself and the following one, two years later. His grandsons Paul and Neil Griffiths swam with him in that first event and now twenty years later his great grandchildren, Georgina and Lewis Griffiths swam in his memory. They managed to swim 70 lengths between them raising £231.
Since that first event we have held sponsored swims every three or four years, including a few Aerobic Workout events along the way. We have swum the equivalent of the Channel many times (22 miles), swam 2000 in 2000 and covered lots of mountain ranges. During that time you have managed to raise a staggering total of £24,738. Money raised from these events has gone, in the past, to Leukaemia Research, Thames Valley Air Ambulance and Goring and Woodcote Health Centres.
Carole Griffiths
