Cancer Fund-Raising 'Goes Swimmingly'

NI-born Sky Sports' presenter, Graham Little will take time out from his day job when he returns to his native Fermanagh to lead a team swimming Lower and Upper Lough Erne in aid of the Ulster Cancer Foundation (UCF).

Graham and the mixed team, consisting of five other swimmers will start their swim at the Crom Castle end of Upper Lough Erne, (pictured here by Brian McCalden) and finish at the far end of Lower Lough Erne, at Belleek - an incredible distance of 48 miles.

As Graham explains, the team are hoping to break the current record for the swim, which is 22 hours and 12 minutes and is currently held by a ladies team from England.

He said: "The swim will be an official Irish Long Distance Swimming Association relay attempt, with each of us swimming for an hour at a time and we must maintain the same order throughout.

"The water temperature will be around 16C, so it's going to be freezing but we are certainly looking forward to the challenge. More importantly, we want to raise as much as we possibly can to enable the Ulster Cancer Foundation to continue to carry out the fantastic work they do. I would encourage everyone to dig deep and help us to achieve this," he said.

The swim will take place on Saturday 30th July and is being facilitated and sponsored by Fermanagh District Council and Waterways Ireland.

When they are not swimming the resting members of the team will be following in a cruiser sponsored by Lochside Garages Vauxhall, Enniskillen.

The team members are - Graham Little, Chelsey Wilson and Paul Colville all from Enniskillen, Tony McNulty from Belfast, Adam Heaybeard from Strangford and Julian Crabtree from London.

Joyce Savage, Head of Appeals & Marketing, UCF said: "We are indebted to Graham and the team for choosing UCF as the beneficiary of his swim.

"Every year we need to raise almost £4m in order to continue our vital work for cancer patients and their families.

"All funds raised for UCF are spent locally providing information, care and support services for the 55,000 people affected by cancer in Northern Ireland."

(BMcC/GK)