Great North Swim - mission accomplished !

It was cold and it was definitely wet but Jonathan along with over 2000 other swimmers braved the murky waters of Lake Windermere to successfully complete the 1 mile open water swim.

The race was split into 10 waves of approximately 200 swimmers with each wave swimming in a different coloured swim cap. Jonathan was in the Flo Green wave of swimmers that set off at 1.40pm. Each swimmer had a timing tag strapped to their ankles so that each competitor received an individual time for the race.

Prior to the start of each race the swimmers had to enter the water to acclimatise to the water temperature and warm up! It was then back to the start line ready for the run down to the water and into the foaming waters. Jonathan had a great swim finishing 5th in his particular wave of swimmers (Flo Green) in a respectable time of 28 minutes and 10 seconds. In the overall results Jonathan finished 168th out of over 2000 swimmers and 15th in his age group.

In the Elite class, British Olympic silver medallist David Davies recorded victory over Dutchman Maarten van der Weijden. Davies finished the one mile course in 17 minutes and three seconds, two seconds clear of the Dutchman, with Thomas Lurz, who claimed bronze in Beijing, a distant 14 seconds further back. In the women's event the finishing positions of the two British medallists from China were reversed, with Patten edging her training partner Payne by a single second to record a winning time of 18 minutes and 21 seconds.

More importantly, Jonathan has received sponsorship pledges of well over £1,000 for the East Lancs Hospice which is fantastic news. Please could people who have made a sponsorship pledge send a cheque made out to the "East Lancs Hospice" to the following address:

Jonathan Hutchings                  Uniwell Systems (UK) Ltd, Greenbank Technology Park, Challenge Way, Blackburn, Lancs BB1 5US

If you have not already made a sponsorship pledge it's not too late to make a donation to the East Lancs Hospice and help this fantastic charity. Simply click here to complete the simple online form (the charity can claim back extra tax if they have your details) details and send a cheque as described above.

A massive thank you goes out to all Jonathan's friends, family, customers and suppliers who have been extremely generous in supported him with this most worthy cause.