LOCAL swimmers of all abilities are being urged to take on a challenge next week to swim the equivalent length of the M50.
The challenge is to swim 45 kilometres, or 1,800 lengths in total, at swimming pools in Ballymun, Finglas, Ballyfermot, and Markievicz Sports and Fitness Centres on Wednesday, October 29.
And if swimmers are up for more than that and surpass the 45 kilometre mark early in the day, the challenge will be extended to swim the equivalent distance between Dublin and Holyhead – just under 121 kilometres.
The local Sports and Fitness Centres will be free to use on the day with participants asked to give a little something to a local charity that will be collecting in each location.
The charities at the Northside centres are St Vincent’s Ward, Mater Foundation for Ballymun and Temple Street Hospital for Finglas.
To encourage people to take part in the challenge, Dublin City Council Sports & Fitness Centres are offering 50 per cent off the
?¬50 full-price monthly membership until October 29.
Last year the council’s sports and fitness centres held over 180,000 swimming lessons for children and 30,000 lessons and aqua fit classes for adults.
Uniquely, the centres also provide group adult swimming classes free of charge with every annual membership.
Details of the
‘Swim the M50’ challenge were announced earlier this month and 20-month-old Northside twins, Bruce and Lex Healy, stole the show at the launch.
But it’s no surprise the twins were so comfortable in the water as both mum Rachel Lee and dad Tom Healy are champion swimmers – and both work as firefighters.
Rachel, who works at Phibsboro Fire Station, won the 2014 Ladies Liffey Swim and the 2014 Lake Zurich Swim while Tom, who’s based in Dun Laoghaire, is the fastest ever Irishman to swim the English Channel.
The
‘Swim the M50′ challenge has been organised to promote the council’s new sports and fitness brand and to encourage more locals to use the centres’ facilities more often.