SWIMATHON HISTORY

Swimathon began in 1986 as an initiative to increase participation in London’s local authority swimming pools. Developed by The Guild of London Baths and Recreation Managers, it was inspired by the success of the London Marathon and aimed to create a similar mass-participation event for swimming.

Piloted across 12 London pools, the event adopted a 5,000-metre distance inspired by an existing Leeds swim (The Leeds Swim Marathon). Sport England (then the Sports Council) supported its early development, while LBC Radio became the first sponsor and coined the name “Swimathon”. The inaugural event took place in November 1986 and the organisers partnered with a charity supporting people who used iron lungs, raising an unexpected £70,000.

Following the successful pilot, Graham Batterham, then CEO of London Youth Games Ltd, saw Swimathon’s potential and partnered with Great Ormond Street Hospital and Penguin Biscuits, beginning a 40 year involvement with the event. Swimathon was then officially launched in 1987, with the first national event held in March 1988, and a team option added. The launch was attended by Diana, Princess of Wales, and Olympic champion Duncan Goodhew - who remains Swimathon President today. The event raised over £680,000 and secured Swimathon’s place in the UK sporting calendar.

With momentum building, organisers set their sights on national expansion. In 1990, Swimathon partnered with ITV’s Telethon and was sponsored by Cadbury’s Chocolate Break. A year later, BT joined as a major partner, investing in the event as part of an early corporate social responsibility programme. From 1991 to 2001, Swimathon grew to become a truly national event across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland with additional distances included.

This era - and beyond - saw growing participation, extensive media coverage and high-profile support with fundraising rising year on year, some events supporting up to six charities and annual totals exceeding £2 million.

From 2005 onwards, the organisers established Swimathon Foundation, a registered charity working with various partners to promote the benefits of swimming. It reaffirmed the event’s focus on charitable impact, partnering with leading UK charities including Macmillan Cancer Support, NSPCC, British Heart Foundation, The Prince’s Trust (now The King’s Trust), Sport Relief and the Swimathon Foundation. Marie Curie came on board as a long term charity partner in 2007 and the current partnership of Marie Curie and CRUK has been in place since 2018.

Despite challenges during the Covid-19 pandemic, Swimathon remains the world’s largest annual pool-based fundraising swim, having brought together more than 750,000 participants and raised over £55 million for good causes.

Much of Swimathon’s early history was tragically lost in a fire in 1999, which destroyed photographs, records and archival documents from the event’s formative years. With no digital backups available at the time, invaluable papers, minutes and historical materials were lost.

As a result, the story of Swimathon’s origins and early growth is now preserved largely through the memories of those who helped shape it - organisers, partners and supporters whose recollections continue to keep the event’s legacy alive. Some of their highlights include:

• In 1987, Princess Diana toured the first official Swimathon launch event at The Queen Mother Centre in Victoria, garnering the campaign front page news. 

• In 1992, over twenty years before it returned to our screens, Annabel Croft was pictured being thrown into a swimming pool by three original Gladiators; Flame, Saracen and Cobra. 

• In 1992, famous cartoonist Gerald Scarfe designed the Swimathon our poster in 1992 - some claim the competitor looks similar to John Major, who was the Prime Minister at the time.

• In 1993, Heather Mills McCartney, former model and wife of Sir Paul McCartney, was bravely pictured at a Swimathon event having recently undergone a leg amputation after a car accident.

• In 1993, Raymond Briggs created a poster to help promote Swimathon. It was the only time his three characters - Father Christmas, Fungus the Bogeyman, and the Snowman - appeared together… And in their swimwear!

• In 2013, Swimathon hit its highest fundraising on record, raising £2.44m for Marie Curie.

• In 2013, Swimathon attracted 26,098 participants - its highest participation rate to date.

• In 2020, Swimathon went virtual only as it tried to navigate the global Covid-19 pandemic.