Jersey’s biggest sporting fundraiser saw 283 teams swim 15,986 laps at Les Quennevais pool between Saturday and Wednesday.
Last year’s event was cancelled due to the pandemic and – despite this year featuring two-thirds of the usual number of teams due to Covid concerns and cases in schools forcing children to pull out at the last minute – the Jersey Lions Club organising committee said it was ‘thrilled’ with the result.
Committee chairman Steve Taylor said: ‘It’s been an enormous amount of work and I have to admit there were times when I wondered if it would happen, but we are absolutely over the moon with how well it has gone.’
David Le Cornu, from sponsor Ravenscroft, got the first session under way on Saturday, while the Lieutenant-Governor, Air Chief Marshal Sir Stephen Dalton, launched the schools’ sessions on Monday morning.
Mr Taylor said: ‘The current situation with coronavirus cases meant that some schools were unable to swim at the last minute, but they have generously said that they will donate all the money have they have collected so far. That’s what makes the Swimarathon so amazing.’
On Wednesday morning, 64 girls from Years 2 to 6 of Helvetia House School took part, with school head Lindsey Woodward saying the girls ‘had a lot of fun’.
The five charities benefiting from this year’s event are: Brighter Futures, Brightly, Jersey Youth Trust, Teenage Cancer Trust and YouMatter.
