Welcome to Northwich Swimathon
Going to great lengths for good causes
Saturday 22nd and Sunday 23rd March 2025 (TBC)
Northwich Memorial Court Swimming Pool, Chester Way, Northwich CW9 5QJ
Anyone and Everyone welcome to join in the 2025 Northwich Swimathon – our 23rd!
The Swimathon is a fun swimming relay for all ages and abilities, where each team members swims a length in rotation, for 55 minutes. Most teams are group of friends, family members, work colleagues or club members helping to raise money for worthwhile local charities and having fun at the same time. The Swimathon is not a race; rather it is an inclusive event, open to all who can confidently swim 25 without floats. The swimmers take it in turns, relay style, so the swimming is not too demanding on any one individual.
So far, over the previous 21 Northwich Swimathons, we have raised over £190,000 for charity.
You can enter one or more teams to represent your organisation/ club / family / group of friends at this charity event. With your effort and sponsorship, we will, together, be able to help those who are less fortunate within our community. If you are unable to raise a team to be part of, please email swimathon@rotaryinnorthwich.org.uk and we will try to match you with an existing team, or create a “scratch” team for you to be a part of. We have mixed teams of adults and children so age is not a barrier.
To complete the Team Registration for this year’s event, you will need:
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- A name for your team (the funnier, the better!)
- The names of the swimmers in your team
- If you are nominating a charity to receive 50% of your sponsorship income, you will need to have the charity’s correct name, address and registered charity number (in the registration form there is a link to details of all UK charities)
- When you’d like to swim – the start times for each day are 4PM, 5PM and 6PM. You will see available time slots when you register, and have confirmation of your selected time slot immediately on submission of the registration.
- You should then set up your wonderful.org sponsorship page, and share the link with your team members to invite their sponsors to donate. You can download a Sponsorship Form in Participant Information towards the bottom of this page, if required.
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2024 Chosen Charities
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- Mid Cheshire MIND – Mid Cheshire MIND is an independent local charity, helping people build on their strengths, overcome obstacles, and become more in control of their lives. They offer ongoing support through a drop-in centre with weekly support activities that encourage and promote positive wellbeing and improvements in mental health. Staff provide a listening ear, signposting or referral to other services.
- The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre – The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre is one of the UK’s leading cancer centres, providing a comprehensive range of inpatient care, advanced radiotherapy, chemotherapy and other systemic anti-cancer therapies, like gene therapies and immunotherapies. They are also the only facility in the UK providing low-energy proton beam therapy to treat rare eye cancers. Additionally, they host the region’s Teenage and Young Adult Unit.
- Rotary charities – Northwich Rotary Club receives numerous requests for help and support from individuals, clubs and organisations in the Northwich area. Every request is considered on its own merit. Swimathon funds will ensure continued support to many local good causes.
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In addition to the above, you may wish to nominate a registered charity of your team’s own choice. If your organisation is a registered charity, by all means nominate yourselves. The team’s named charity will then receive half the sum raised by the team (less any processing fees) plus any Gift Aid. The team sponsorship forms, together with all the monies raised by the team, should be delivered to us to enable us to make the Gift Aid claim. We will send a cheque to your team captain/contact made payable to your chosen charity for you to forward on.
We hope to raise a record sum this year!
Sponsoring/Donating
We have teamed up with
as our payment platform., enabling collection of sponsorship and donations with absolutley NO FEES. This means that 100% of what you give will go to where it is meant to go! To maximise your donation, please don’t forget to 
! If you are a UK tax payer and decide to Gift Aid It, we are able to claim an extra 25% on top of your donation – at no extra cost to you.
There are two options for donating:
- 1. Donate to the event and it’s nominated charities:
2. Donate to or Sponsor a particular team by clicking on the relevant team:
Sat 4pm
Sun 4pm
Sun 5pm
Sun 6pm
Lengths Completed 2024
2025’s Pre-Registered Teams
Sat 4pm
Sat 5pm
Sat 6pm
Sun 4pm
Sun 5pm
Sun 6pm
Participant Information:
Please note the closing date for Registering your Team is Monday 18th March 2024.
If you have any questions not covered on this webpage, please email swimathon@rotaryinnorthwich.org.uk, and we will respond as soon as possible.
The Swim
There will be up to six teams of differing abilities swimming independently of each other on the evenings of Saturday and Sunday, in sessions at 4pm, 5pm and 6pm each day.
You will have a team of usually 4-8 swimmers. Most start with half at the deep end and half at the shallow end, swimming lengths in relay, one swimmer at a time, swapping at each end. However, you can swim as many lengths as you like. All we ask is that inexperienced or out of condition swimmers do not exceed their capacity. All swimmers must be able to swim 25m confidently without floats. However we can put teams with younger swimmers on the edges of the pool if requested beforehand.
A swimmer at the deep end starts, with diving in only allowed at the deep end. Swimmers can remain in the water between lengths. Every session will start on the hour and last 55 minutes. For the last two minutes, the whistle is blown to signal that all the team may swim at once to clock up as many lengths as they can between them. Once the final whistle is blown, there will be 5 minutes for you to leave the pool and for the next teams to assemble ready to start.
We hope that thousands of lengths will be completed in total so that we can reach our target of at least £10,000. Each swimmer seeks sponsors for the number of lengths their whole team completes. They will all have the same aim; to raise as much money, by swimming as many lengths as they can for charity. Fundraising and fun!
In some sessions we may have a number of teams from the same organisation or club who have a friendly competitiveness between them, some trying to beat their previous best lap count in past Swimathons. For example we usually have four teams from Northwich Centurions Swimming Club who are quite competitive, particularly between the coaches and the Bronze/silver/Gold swimmers. We also have three teams form Northwich Memorial Court who compete against each other. Winsford Swimming Club have been known to bring a team to prove their worth against Northwich Centurions!
The event is a great experience for team building and friendly competition in raising funds for the chosen charities. You will derive great satisfaction in knowing that your efforts will provide much needed support for a range of local good causes, and all swimmers will receive a medal and certificate of achievement.
There is a spectators area for any family, friends or colleagues to cheer you on, and a Northwich Memorial Court Cafe for them to purchase drinks and snacks.
Sponsorship
Each team MUST create its own donation page on the site, linked to Northwich Rotary Club – you will receive full details with the confirmation of your entry.
Sponsorship and donations made before this step is completed cannot be allocate to the intended team.
DO NOT USE ANY OTHER DONATION PLATFORM (such as JustGiving/PayPal). Contact swimathon@rotaryinnorthwich.org.uk if you are having any difficulties with wonderful.org.
You can collect cash and cheques directly from sponsors using the Sponsorship Form (downloadable on this page), but they may also donate directly by following the links on our donation webpage / you can share the link to your teams wonderful.org page via social media, emails and messages.
Try approaching friends, work colleagues and relatives, business suppliers and contacts, even your employer might be prepared to pay a handsome price to see you in the swim!
As a guide when seeking sponsorship we estimate that an inexperienced swimmer takes one minute per length, a competent swimmer 45 seconds per length and a club swimmer 30 seconds per length. This suggests that your team can collectively achieve between 55 and 122 lengths in the 55 minutes allocated. But your sponsors can put a limit on their commitment if they fear your prowess!
Don’t forget that UK tax payers can increase the value of their donation by 25% at no cost to them – so encourage your sponsors to do so!
The Venue
Northwich Memorial Court swimming pool has six 25-metre lanes, ranging in depth from 1.0 to 1.8 metres.
There is wheelchair access and a pool hoist if required.
There is a modern changing area with secure lockers requiring a refundable 20p coin for use.
Please arrive a good half hour prior to your swim session, to allow time to check in and check the spelling of your name for your certificate, for you all to change, and to check in with the Changing Room Steward prior to arriving poolside in good time for your swim. The whistle will blow on the hour!
After your swim and change, free refreshments will be provided for all participants (with allergen information on display). You should return to the Swimathon desk for your certificates and medals, and volunteers will be happy to take a team photo for you with your phone or camera to commemorate the event,
Car parking at Brio is now charged for and managed by barriers. You pay on exit by scanning/inserting your ticket at the pay machine. Charges are 50p (up to two hours), 80p (2 to 4 hours), £1.10 (4 to 6 hours), £1.40 (6 to 8 hours) and £1.80 (over 8 hours).
However parking is free for up to 3 hours for those attending Memorial Court – On arrival stop at entry barrier, push the blue button, take the ticket and keep it safe on your person. After swimming/volunteering, and just before departure, validate your ticket at the scanning machine near the Swimathon desk. Scan the Bar Code. If you stayed more than 3 hours go to the pay station and insert/scan your ticket. You'll be asked to pay any extra charge by cash or card. Take the ticket to your car and drive to the exit barrier and insert your ticket into the blue flashing slot. The barrier will lift and you can drive off
Find more information about Northwich Memorial Court here.
Our 2024 Event Sponsors:
The generous sponsors, Butcher & Barlow Solicitors and CRS Consultants, cover all the running costs for this event, allowing all proceeds to go to charity.
