A SPONSORED ‘Dare to Brave It’ charity swim at The Little Gloster in Gurnard raised the magnificent sum of £566.91 for Macmillan Cancer Support.

The Little Gloster celebrated their first Christmas in style last Saturday (December 11) with a Yuletide market bustling with locally sourced produce, unique Christmas gifts and the well supported charity Christmas swim.

Despite the somewhat icy water temperature of only 5.6 degrees eleven swimmers braved the winter waters off Gurnard Marsh for a 300-metre swim – some even managed it without the help of a wet or dry suit.

First place was won by seasoned open water swimmer Dave Pearce, second place was attained most impressively by the youngest contestant, 13 year old Georgia Caws, who was the only swimmer to complete the full course without a wetsuit and third place was won by Michelle Lock, one of the swimmers representing WightTri Triathlon Club.

A special prize was awarded to Gary Martin, for participating in the best charitable spirit, having taken part in a rainbow hat, Hawaiian shirt and sandals…after being pushed in by Ben Cooke, Head Chef at The Little Gloster.

Other participants included event organizer Holly Siddons from the Little Gloster, Dale Baker, Helen Symes and Jenny Ball from the Marlin’s Swim Club. Water support boats were kindly managed by Rob Proctor, whose son also competed in the swim.

All were handed a glass of mulled wine or hot chocolate after the swim to warm everyone up before prize giving inside.

See a clip of the event on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jDaKY7HGxc