Macmillan Cancer Support is partnering with the Henley Swim Series as the charity looks to immerse itself in the growth of open water swimming.
The events team at Macmillan plans to help more people enjoy the benefits of outdoor swimming by offering free charity places at Henley Swim events in return for fundraising pledges. This will help Macmillan raise the funds needed to support cancer patients and families.
Henley Swim hosts four swim events, appealing to a wide variety of potential swimmers of all ages. All four swims are set in and around Henley.
- Selkie Henley Classic (25 June 2023) – Henley Swim has exclusive once-a-year access to the Henley Royal Regatta rowing course, allowing swimmers the opportunity to swim the 2.1km course at dawn.
- Outdoor Swimmer Henley Swim Festival (9 July 2023) – this event offers a swim distance for all the family along with camping, music and entertainment both on and off the water.
- Club to Pub (22 July 2023) – a 1500m Saturday early evening swim from Henley Rowing Club to the Angel on the Bridge Pub. Each swimmer is presented with a bottle of beer and a medal that doubles as a bottle opener at the finish.
- Thames Marathon and Half Marathon (13 August 2023) – an endurance swim between Henley-on-Thames and Marlow with a choice of 2 distances – 13km / 5.5km.
Macmillan, Challenge Events Team Manager, Sally Walker said “We’re so thrilled to be the Official Charity Partner of Henley Swim. Open water swimming continues to grow in popularity and the benefits are increasingly well documented. Our hope is that we can enable more people to reap these benefits whilst raising money for Macmillan.
“There are now more than three million people with cancer in the UK. That means millions of lives turned upside down, in thousands of different ways. Last year, we were able to help over 2.4 million people living with cancer and going forwards and we hope this partnership over the next few years will help even more people and families receive the support that Macmillan provide.”
Along with free charity places and fundraising packs for those purchasing their own swim places, Macmillan will offer training advice, community support, prizes from Henley Swim partners and will at the events cheering the Macmillan charity swimmers on.
Partnership Manager for Henley Swim, Yvonne Turner said “We love working with charities, using our events to help raise much needed funds and seeing the camaraderie that our swimmers enjoy when it comes to event day.
“This partnership with Macmillan is especially exciting as they have such a wealth of experience in supporting athletes at events, adding atmospheric activity to the day and a wide reach of supporters looking to take on something new like open water swimming. We are looking forward to the activations going live and working with this talented team.”
www.macmillan.org.uk
www.henleyswim.com
