HILTON BOYS’ 24-HOUR SWIMATHON

On a boring day during lockdown, estranged from his Hilton College community and homesick for the school’s swimming pool, Stefan Swart wondered how long it would take to swim the distance from his Durban home to Hilton College.

These aimless ponderings were the seeds of an impressive swimathon feat, fundraising for Thandi House children’s home, where Swart’s U15 water polo team collectively swam 91km in 24 hours.

“We have had a lot of opportunity to realise our privileges during this abnormal year,” Swart said. “That motivated me to reach out to my friends and team mates to see how we can contribute to the lives of others, especially those who haven’t been as fortunate as we have to have families to spend time with during lockdown.”

After speaking to his housemaster when the boys returned to school, they arranged a swimathon fundraiser for Thandi House, an organisation Hilton College has supported over the years through different campaigns. They decided to do a 24-hour relay wherein each swimmer would take turns swimming in 20-minute slots in a relay format.

The swimathon took place from 10am on Tuesday, 1 December, through to 10am on Wednesday, 2 December. Swart said the event took around five weeks to plan and they arranged an order in which each participant would swim.

He said although it was really tough to keep going at times, it felt amazing to have achieved such a feat. Hilton Quarry Spar’s generous sponsorship of food and energy drinks was a great aid to keeping the swimmers fuelled and motivated.

If anyone would like to donate towards the swimathon fundraiser for Thandi House, the banking details are: Account Name: Hiltonian Society FNB ENTERPRISE BUSINESS ACCOUNT;

Account Number: 628 113 85 063; Branch Code: 257355; Branch Name: MIDLANDS MALL;

Swift Code FIRNZAJJ ; REF your surname, followed by SwimforLives