The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Young swimmers go to great lengths to help out good causes
Kirriemuir: Another successful Splash swimathon raises thousands
Kirriemuir Splash continued an amazing 27-year, £200,000 fundraising run when Angus schools, sponsors and community clubs added thousands of pounds more to the charity swim event’s remarkable total.
Webster’s sports centre in Kirrie hosted swimmers of all ages on Saturday as teams took the plunge to complete as many lengths of the pool, and raise as much sponsorship, as possible in their allocated afternoon slot.
Overall winners of the 2017 event and the Splash trophy were the Kirrie Kinetics of the town’s amateur swimming club, who also grabbed the intermediate shield with their performance of 88 lengths.
The winning team comprised Tally McGowan, Elspeth Wardman, Nathan Entwistle, Becky Wilmshurst, Beth Mowatt, Natasha Phillips, Morven Whyte and Ed Brown.
They finished just two lengths ahead of the Community Quaich winners, Kirrie Round Table.
In a Kirrie Swimming Club double, the Kickers captured the junior award with a 68-length stint, and Northmuir Primary’s Clownfish were the junior schools trophy winners after completing 66 lengths.
A Splash spokesperson said: “The new community organisers worked hard to ensure that their second annual event went with a swing.
“Splash is a challenging event to organise – they can be proud of their efforts this year.”
They also paid tribute to leading sponsors Guild Homes (Tayside) Ltd, J& J Learmonth, Kirriemuir and Kirrie Rotary Club, as well as more than 30 other local companies who backed the fundraiser.
The 2017 beneficiaries are Lippen Care, Angus Food Bank, Angus Cat Rescue, Cancer Research, Dr Grahams Homes, Operacion San Andres and the multicultural Angus Community Group supporting Syrian families in the area.