Swimmers in Galway will take to the sea this Sunday to raise much-needed funds for national housing charity Threshold.
Atlantic Masters Swimming Club has relaunched its popular Turkey Swim for 2020, this time with no fixed location due to Covid-19 restrictions.
The fundraiser is open to swimmers of all abilities – even those who wish to take ‘just a dip’. In lieu of a gathering, the club is encouraging participants to go for their swim within a 5km radius of their homes, in line with new Covid-19 restrictions introduced this week.
“There will be a total of nine swims over the next nine weekends, so we really hope that more people will be able to take part later in the year,” said Mark Dwyer, one of the founding members of Atlantic Masters Swimming Club.
“For now, we would encourage anyone who lives within 5km of the sea to take advantage of that over the Bank Holiday weekend and take a dip and raise much-needed funds for Threshold.
“For those who don’t live near the sea, it might be an excuse to get creative – why not get the paddling pool out of the shed?
“We raised €950 for Threshold last year so we’d love to surpass that this year, especially after the difficult year it’s been and how important our homes have been to us all.”
The first Turkey Swim will take place this Sunday, 25 October and will run every Sunday up to and including 20 December.
Participants are being asked to donate €3 per swim – a total of €27 for all nine swims.
“We are so pleased that Atlantic Masters S.C. will be donating the proceeds from their Turkey Swim to Threshold again this year,” added Karina Timothy, Western Regional Services Manager at Threshold.
“In the first eight months of 2020, we dealt with over 1,600 cases in Galway alone – it’s vital for us to have strong local support in one of our busiest areas. Every donation will go towards saving a home.”
