Olympic gold medallist launches swim challenge

Olympic gold medallist Duncan Goodhew has launched the 40th annual Swimathon in Brighton.

Goodhew, who won the 100m breaststroke at the 1980 games, was at Sea Lanes in Madeira Drive where 30 people took part in the charity swim.

The 68-year-old, the charity's president, said it was a "wonderful day" for the 40th anniversary.

He told BBC Radio Sussex: "It's been a great journey and well done to all the swimmers who have taken part in the last 40 years."

Since the first event in 1986, the Swimathon Foundation said it had grown into the world's largest annual pool-based fundraising event, having seen more than 750,000 people take part and over £55m raised for charities.

Swimmers can choose the length they swim, from 500m all the way up to a triple 5km swim.

Goodhew, who grew up in Yapton, West Sussex, said 550 pools were taking part this year, raising money for Marie Curie and Cancer Research UK.

He described swimming as "a sport for life" and "open to everybody".

"In swimming we didn't have an event like a marathon to draw people in. We wanted to give normal swimmers a goal to go for," he added.

One of the swimmers, Christine Addison, said: "I have been doing them since probably the beginning. We started in Dorking and now I do them in Brighton."

Katy Jones, another swimmer, said: "It's a really great event, we love the pool. It's a beautiful sunny day, it's perfect for us doing long training swims but great to be raising money for charity as well."

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