Locals smash charity marathon swimalong target

The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) will benefit from the stellar effort of more than 30 swimmers who together successfully completed a marathon swim within three hours.

The swimmers achieved an amazing total of 52km, far exceeding the 42km needed for a marathon, raising almost £3,000 for the charity in the process.

The event, which took place at West Wickham Leisure Centre on September 29, was organised by Rotary Club of Beckenham with the help and support of other local clubs and communities.

A Rotary Club of Beckenham spokesperson said: “We are grateful to the West Wickham Leisure Centre and other local rotary clubs and sponsors, whose generous support made the event possible. Our final thanks are to the swimmers, whose efforts to swim a marathon have now been achieved and whose supporters have so generously given to the RNLI.”

The mayor of Bromley, councillor Nicholas Bennett, accompanied by his wife, attended with the mayor himself swimming a useful distance towards the target.