The Macmillan Swim - Padstow to Rock
We had the de-brief from the swim last Monday evening, just to make a few notes on what we did right and what we need to do better for next year. Most of it we got right, with just a new checking in arrangement to finalise so we can get all the swimmers down the slip and in to the water quickly.
The after swim party was a great success with the Fisherman’s Friends singers entertaining the spectators. The bar and BBQ were a great step forwards and we took over £800 on this, most going to Macmillan once the costs were covered.
I am going to try and start a thread on the Macmillan message board about the swim because we want to have more fundraising swimmers next year: over the last number of years we have attracted more competitive swimmers and triathletes who pay their entry fee and that’s it. While we do have a lot of fun with the swim and the cameraderie is great we mustn’t forget that the purpose is to raise money. We will be focusing much more next year on encouraging fun swimmers to the event and we will try and find more ways of encouraging people to take part and also to raise as much money as we can. Last year we raised over £15,000 but we will be lucky to reach that this year.
While we are very grateful for the athletes who take part and who do contribute their entry fees we want more people like me and my friends from the hotels who do this for the challenge as well as raising the money. Mike hadn’t really swum for about 8 years and Cath said the next day she felt like she’d been run over by a truck! That, though is the fun and the sense of achievement is amazing.
If anybody reading this feels moved to make a contribution do please send cheques to Macmillan care of the hotel and I’ll pass them on for you.
We don’t have the date and time details for next years’s swim yet but this will come out very soon, I think on the Macmillan web site.
