Labs manager raises £1000 through Swimathon

Posted 21 April 2015

Harper Adams University Laboratory Manager, Dr Victoria Talbot, has raised more than £1000 for charity by swimming 5km.

After months of training, Dr Talbot from Newport completed the Swimathon in 02:46:32, a time that exceeded her expectations.

Dr Talbot, who took up swimming as part of a healthy lifestyle change, said: “I have been overwhelmed by the support from colleagues and friends, which has enabled me to raise a fantastic amount of money for Marie Curie – a worthy charity that supports terminally ill people.

“It was particularly encouraging to have colleagues and family cheering me on, especially towards the end because I was beginning to feel quite tired. A big cheer went up when I finished and I burst into tears!

“I started off swimming for fitness, but then a former colleague suggested that I took part in the Swimathon, so I thought why not?

“It took me quite some time to decide which distance to choose, but as I was already regularly swimming 3.5km at a time I felt I really needed to go for the full 5km, even though the increase in distance felt rather daunting.

“My next challenge is to master front crawl; at the moment I can still only swim breast stroke.”

Established in 1986, Swimathon is a national challenge that encourages swimmers to complete a variety of challenge distances at their local pool. During the past 27 years of Swimathon, more than £40million has been raised for charitable causes.

This year, the event took place Friday 17 – Sunday 19 April, with Dr Talbot completing her challenge on the Sunday. By completing the 5km, she swam a total of 200 lengths of the 25m swimming pool.

Also taking part in the event was Harper Adams Office Services Assistant, Denise Bishop, who completed 5km in a relay with her family.

Dr Talbot is now looking forward to continuing her training using the Harper Adams campus swimming pool, open to staff and students.

You can still sponsor Dr Talbot by clicking here. For more information about Swimathon, visit here.