80% If funds are going to Level Water and 20% to MARLENS. I am swimming between 19th-28th September (not 15/16th August) 

I was signed up for two events this summer, which were both cancelled because of the pandemic. The first was the Bantham Boomerang, a 7-10km swim in the River Avon on to Bantham beach on the south coast of Devon, raising money for Level Water. The second was the SwimRun in Clevedon, a 6km run and a 1km swim. It wasn’t to raise money, but MARLENS do a great job maintaining the Marine Lake, so I thought they should benefit from a fundraising event taking place in it.

I have combined the distances I would have done into this one fundraiser (the 7-10km range was dependant on how far I swam UP the river before turning round and coming DOWN. 7km was the minimum I would have done. 7+1=8km swim, and 6km run. If I have any energy left I will try for more!).

I will do these challenges over 9 days as I will be doing it on my own, so no formal support crew, and if the lake is particularly busy I will come back at another time. I will record my distance on Strava on my phone in a waterproof bag.

So, a little about these two charities:

Level Water are the only UK swimming charity who provide specialist one-to-one swimming lessons for children with physical and sensory disabilities. Once each child has learnt to swim 15m frontcrawl and backstroke, they can be safe and independent in the water, and can join group swimming lessons or join their local competitive club. But it's not just about swimming... Through developing independence in the water, and being able to join mainstream classes, each child develops confidence, self-esteem and resilience.

MARLENS run Clevedon Marine Lake, the charity behind the lake. Cleaning, maintenance and fundraising for improvements are all carried out by volunteers, which is why this amazing space is always ship shape for visitors to enjoy. It costs roughly £10,000 each year to simply run Clevedon Marine Lake, which is raised entirely through fundraising initiatives. The same again is required annually to make on-going improvements to lake facilities and surrounds.

And a little about me:
I enjoy swimming and running to keep fit, although I’ve not done many distance events. Last July I took part in the Bantham Swoosh which was a 6km swim down the River Avon on to Bantham beach (again raising money for Level Water). I loved it and learnt a lot about outdoor swimming. I then took part in a 7km swim down the River Wye in the Forest of Dean in September. I was really looking forward to these two events this summer. The Bantham Boomerang was a bigger challenge than last year’s Swoosh and the SwimRun was being held in my home town of Clevedon.

We have all had various challenges this year because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Be it directly being affected by the virus, having our events or holidays cancelled, job or financial insecurity, or having our mental health strained. Charities have been hit very hard as many of their fundraising events have not been able to go ahead this year, and there is currently no time frame of when mass participation events will start again.

For those reasons I wanted to do something positive, for me and for them. If you can spare anything to support me I would be very grateful. If you want to join me at any time throughout the week please do! I would love the company.