The Lions Club Swimarathon saw 21 teams swim a total of 1,289 lengths of Bridport Leisure Centre’s pool to help raise funds for their donation efforts.

Organisers said they were happy with the number of teams that had entered from the local area and looked forward to attracting more next year.

A total of £3,215 was raised, which will be used by Bridport Lions to help other clubs in the area with their equipment needs.

Starting events on the day was Bridport Mayor Maggie Ray.

Peter Garlick, Lions President, said: “We were very pleased with the good response from the participants although we are still trying to attract more to future events, which I am sure we can do.”

Mr Garlick stated that he would have liked to have seen more participation from local schools, with only one opting to send students to participate this year. The same school was also the only educational institution to send teams to last year’s Swimarathon.

“I find that it isn’t necessarily the groups that are the problem, but mainly in getting enough children to participate. We have to try and get more youngsters involved, and swimming is a great way to keep them fit.”

He added: “We are really losing out to sports such as football and rugby which are fixed on the calendar. It was difficult as well for children to get to the leisure centre because they were unable to secure transportation from parents.”

The Bridport Gig Club was presented with a cheque for £200 by Mr Garlick to help in the purchasing of specialist cleaning equipment for their boats, after the completion of 79 lengths at the Swimarathon.

Thirty-five lane sponsors and 18 raffle prize sponsors also contributed to the event. Food was provided by Leakers Bakery.

In the senior section, the most laps were completed by the Bridport Barracudas’ Speed Merchants, with 107 laps.

In the mixed section, Bridport Leisure Centre’s Dangerous Dolphins completed 74 laps.

In the junior section the Bridport Beasts of Barracudas completed 86 laps.