A KELSALL man has gone the extra length to support a children’s hospice – a thousand of them to be precise.
Simon Stokes, 23, swam 1,000 lengths of the pool at the Macdonald Portal Hotel, Golf and Spa in Tarporley where he works as a fitness instructor in the leisure club.
He completed the challenge in 10 hours and 33 minutes – stopping only to take the occasional short break for drinks – and raised nearly £1,000 for Claire House.
Simon, who was inspired by David Walliams’s gruelling 140-mile swim along the River Thames for Sport Relief, said: “I just feel like I had got to a certain point in my life and wanted to give something back.
“After watching David swim along the Thames I really wanted a new challenge, something I could really focus on.
“I was always quite good at swimming so decided to do this and couldn’t think of a better charity to support than Claire House Children’s Hospice, who helped a young neighbour of mine who sadly lost her battle with leukaemia.”
Simon’s training involved swimming between 600 and 700 lengths of the hotel pool each week, which later intensified to about 450 lengths each time he went for a swim.
“I took a week off before the challenge so that I could prepare mentally”, he added.
“I was a little disappointed with my time. I wanted to complete it in less than nine hours, which I was on course for at 800 lengths but then my shoulder seized up so I had to switch to breaststroke
“However, I am pleased to have just finished the challenge – after about 700 metres I was in completely unchartered territory so I didn’t know how I would cope.”
Hotel general manager Sacha Cauwels-Wigan said: “We are all extremely proud of what Simon has achieved and will fully support him in any other fundraisers he decides to take on in the future.”
