A brief history of the Swimarathon.

Following the completion of the Beau Sejour project in 1976, swimming, water polo and life saving and other aquatic events were now possible all the year round. Previous to that date all such events were held at La Vallette Pool - which meant that any adverse weather conditions as well as tidal conditions made organisation very difficult. The season was also a very short one - May to September.

The Fort Regent project had already been completed in Jersey and the Jersey Lions Club together with members of the Jersey Swimming Club had organised two or three Swimarathon events and was thus able to discover how such an event was organised. With all this information we were then able to make a successful application to the Recreation Committee (President Deputy Tony Bran) to organise such an event in Guernsey. It was agreed that we should invite members of the three main Charitable Clubs on the island to form a Swimarathon Organising Committee to organise such an event in October 1977. There was also a stipulation that money raised should remain on the island for distribution by the three Clubs concerned to local charities.

We held our first Swimarathon in March 1977 and we were able to attract and accommodate 186 teams over a period of 31 x 1 hour sessions. This proved to be a very successful event - both socially and financially. The event was started by the Bailiff Sir John Loveridge at 5pm on the Friday and finished at 10pm on the Sunday. Just over 1,000 people took part and a magnificent sum of £19,900 was raised.

We have been encouraged to continue with this event ever since.......it has proved to be a most popular fund raising event - so that today we are now able to accommodate over 250 teams involving well over 2,000 swimmers of all age groups and abilities and to date we have raised over £1,052,276 for local charities.

Over the years we have been able to introduce fun events within the Swimarathon as well as awarding trophies for the various categories of those taking part - such as Banks, Business Houses, Hotels and Pubs, Schools, Accountants just to mention some of them. This has stimulated a great deal of interest for those taking part, yet at the same time making this a fun event for all age groups. From time to time the clubs concerned, The Lions and Round Table Clubs have been able to pool their funds to support one particular charity or organisation -

For example:-

Jessant House.

Guernsey Society for cancer relief ; Bulstrode House.

Youth Clubs.

Maison St. Pierre.

Grow Limited.

W.R.V.S

Handicapped Swimming Clubs.

Each year the Clubs have been able to support numerous smaller projects. Details of all these projects can be seen in the foyer on the notice display boards.