Harborough Rotary Club's popular SwiMarathon prepares to return next month

Swimmers are urged to sign up for the two-day fundraiser – organised by the Market Harborough Rotary Club – taking place on the weekend of March 1 and 2 at Harborough Leisure Centre.

The club’s biggest annual event aims to raise money for a number of good causes while providing a fun and engaging time for lots of people, both young and old.

There are already more than 20 teams of swimmers registered for the event.

One swimmer said: “It is such a fun thing to do. We have done it for three years now. We are bringing more members this year, to swim with us.”

Rotarian Carole Baldam, who is organising the swim team entries, said: “We really enjoy putting on this event in the town. It is a lot of hard work, but all the Rotarians join in to help. It is great to see so many happy swimmers. Some new swim teams this year are from the organisations which were given grants from last year’s event, which is pleasing.”

Last year 38 swim teams took part and £7,000 was raised from swimmers’ sponsorship and business sponsorship, and all given to local charities and organisations.

To take part, all you need is a team of one to six people to swim in a relay in one lane of the pool for 50 minutes, so nobody has to swim for very long. Work mates, business colleagues, school groups, youth organisations, sports clubs, families and friends can take part. Last year the youngest swimmer was five years old and the oldest was over 80. Rotarians count the number of lengths swum by each team – the team with the highest number will be declared winner.

Any business, or person, willing to offer sponsorship is urged to email [email protected].

Business sponsorship covers the costs of putting on the event, so that means all of the money raised by swimmers will go to local charities.

If you want to swim, email [email protected] and book a place for your team.