Mark is attempting his longest ever open water swim, previously he has completed 3km and 4km open water swims but is going further in his attempt to push himself and raise vital funds to support Staunton Harold Sailability Trust.

A competitive swimmer in his youth Mark represented his home county of Derbyshire. He took up Open Swimming in the summer of 2022 and has since been building up his distances.

Taking on a daunting 5km challenge at the Castle Swim at Belvoir Castle lake on July 19th Mark is hoping that his efforts will be well supported by local individuals and companies as he attempts to raise funds towards a £7k target.

Staunton Harold Sailability Trust based in Melbourne offers waterborne activities to disabled people of all ages, through sailing, powerboating, Katakanus and all things water based. SHST are raising funds to replace their hoist that allows them to lift people in and out of boats who otherwise would not be able to take part.

They hope to bring updates of Marks training so follow this on Facebook to see how he is getting on.

Every penny goes to further the work of the charity which is completely run by non-paid volunteers.