Thousands take part in pier to pier swim for British Heart Foundation

More than 3,000 plunged into choppy water on Bournemouth beach for the 30th annual pier to pier swim for BHF.

The popular event was cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic last year, and swimmers dived in in waves this time, starting at 2pm on Saturday.

Den Champ took part this year along with seasoned swimmer, and mum, Vicki McFarlane.

Den said: “It’s a nice thing to do, it’s a great cause. We’re coming out the plague, let’s all together and do something nice for a good cause.

“It’s an added bonus doing it with my mum, she does cold water swimming all the time, a world champion, genuinely.

“It’s something nice for us to do, support a good cause and come down in the sun.

“Every single one of us knows someone that’s had something to do with the heart, for us to do that little bit, to all pull in the same direction, we’ll get somewhere.”

Vicki added: “It’s nice to be able to get back in the water and do an event like this.

“It’s brilliant to do it with my son but I think he might beat me.”

Due to the choppy conditions, the organisers changed the route to a two-lap course, equalling 1.4 miles, the distance between the piers.

Also taking part was Natasha Williams who said: “I know some people who have been helped by BHF and it’s a great personal challenge.

“It’s a great event and great to be part of it. I first did it in 2018, it was nerve-wrecking then and it’s nerve-wrecking now.

“It’s amazing, it’s a great event and I’m so pleased to be part of it. I’ve got a few friends doing it as well, to see so many people is amazing.”

Will Slater, of BHF, said: “A lot of preparation goes into staging this event, not least in making sure the weather conditions present a swim people can complete safely but is also fun.

“Over the course of the weekend we have about 3,400 people taking part. This year we are expecting it to raise around £350,000, over the course of 30 years it has raised over £3.6million.

“The pandemic has had a huge impact on our ability to fundraise, the result in that drop in income meant the amount of money we were able to invest in life-saving research halved, reduced from £100million to £50million.

“Being able to bring this event back this year is really important, it’s a step on the way to restore the income for the charity which has been so hard hit over the last 18 months.”