On Saturday 19th November Aspire held their annual Swim Celebration Dinner to celebrate the achievements of supporters who have swum for Aspire during the year.

2016 has been an exceptional year for open water swimming, with five successful relay channel swim teams raising a record-breaking £124,333. Together with Aspire’s other open water swim events, including 50 people swimming the Solent and 500 people participating in night swims, the total raised from 2016 open water swims is currently £214,332. The success of 2016 means that the total raised from Aspire open water swims over the last eight years is £972,491, raised from swims across the UK and Europe.

Aspire’s Andrew Ogierman and Paul Parrish thanked the swimmers and presented awards to those who swam in 2016, the top fundraisers and boat leaders.  They then introduced Aspire's new film which shows what an Aspire Relay Channel Swim is all about. 

The evening’s guest speaker was Kevin Murphy, secretary of the Channel Swimming & Pilot Federation and who, with 34 successful Channel crossings to his name, is the reigning “King of the Channel”.  He entertained the guests by reading out some of the observer reports written during their swims and said to all swimmers, “You are special people, you can test the limits. Not only that but you raise all this money for this good cause Aspire."

Click here to find out more about swimming with Aspire.