Swimmers dive in to 30 Bays in 30 Days
THIS year’s 30 Bays in 30 Days fundraiser for Les Bourgs Hospice started on Friday as between 150 and 200 swimmers met at Vazon for the official first swim of the month.
A total of about 600 have registered for this year’s event, the ninth that has been organised, and although lower than the hoped-for 1,000, event, founder Liz Stonebridge said she was pleased with a late rally of sign-ups.
‘It was a really good event. It wasn’t as busy as the previous year but we were really amazed and grateful for the pick-up in numbers over the last couple of days – an article in the Guernsey Press really did the job.’
There were swimmers of all ages at Vazon and Miss Stonebridge said there was a great atmosphere.
‘The sun came out and we had an event at Vistas afterwards so it was all good.’
As well as some familiar faces, she said there were newcomers to the swim and newcomers to the island, who said they were looking forward to exploring the various beaches.
Participants must swim a minimum of 30 strokes and 30 bays on the event list.
Extra swims at the same bays can be swapped for bays that are not accessible for an individual.
A smaller version of the event, Nine Bays in 30 Days, is also available and this is tailored to families and people with mobility issues, or who are too busy to take on the 30 bays.
The nine beaches included have parking, toilets and a kiosk.
With the 10th anniversary of the event next year Miss Stonebridge is hoping for many more people to take part and more could be done to promote the Nine Bays event, as well as team entries, whereby each team member can tackle a different bay.
n For more information visit www.30bays.org.
