Held at Aquamoves on Saturday and Sunday, the team relay event saw participants butterfly, backstroke and doggy paddle over 24 hours to raise funds for the worthy cause.
Open to all ages and abilities, this years’ local participants ranged in age from eight to 94, with all teams covering a total of 170.3 km.
“You don’t have to be an expert swimmer to join in on the fun,” an MS spokesperson said.
“Participants are most welcome to paddle up and down the lanes with flotation devices to support the swim.
“Our youngest participant this weekend was an eight-year-old who has participated the last few years, while our oldest participant was a 94-year-old man who has supported the event the past 10 years.”
The event has been held in Shepparton for the past 11 years, with this weekend’s fundraising haul of $7740 bringing the total raised by locals to $160 000.
In total, Shepparton has now had 820 registrations for the event, with many participants swimming year after year for the cause.
Funds raised from the event will go towards the MS financial assistance program and Go for Gold scholarships, providing services to directly benefit people living with multiple sclerosis.
“Go for Gold dreams can be big, small and everything in between,” the spokesperson said.
“The scholarships can be used to achieve dreams from one of seven categories: the arts, education, travel, music, sport, employment and lifestyle and wellbeing.
“To date we have provided 900 scholarships to people living with MS.”
Of the local teams who took part, the Suns Out Buns team completed 51.3 km, the Just Keeping Swimming team completed 51.8 km, the Little Blue Fish team completed 42.2 km and the Proud Swimmers completed 25 km.
The event was hosted by local Damien Stevens, with the Lions Club of Shepparton and the Kiwanis Club of Shepparton Sunrisers donating their time.
City of Greater Shepparton mayor Seema Abdullah praised the community for taking part in the local event.
“All the registered teams did an amazing job, putting in lots of hard work for those living with multiple sclerosis,” she said.
“To raise more than $7000 is an incredible achievement and shows the generous people we have in Greater Shepparton.”
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