TEAMS of six swimmers are being sought to take the plunge in this year’s fun swim relay in Poole.

The Poole Lions 2014 Swimarathon dives into the town’s Dolphin Swimming Pool over the weekend of March 8 and 9.

This year organisers are hoping to raise £30,000 for six local charities, the Julia’s House children’s hospice and Forest Holme hospice, Mayor of Poole’s Christmas Parcel Fund, The Purple Teardrop refuge for trafficked women, Home Start South East Dorset and Poole Young Carers.

“We have got approaching 50 teams,” said Lion swimarathon organiser Ray Kressinger. “We could do with another 20-30,” he said urging companies, schools and groups to sign up and take part.

He said a number of schools had entered teams, including regulars Broadstone Middle, Bournemouth Collegiate Prep School, Montacute, Quay School and St Mary’s but there was pool space for plenty more.

“The hardest bit is getting companies in now,” he said but added that there was still time to get involved and said they were hoping to exceed last year’s sponsorship total of around £12,000.

“Please support this event because the bottom line is the money feeds back to various charities in Poole. Last year was quite hard work getting teams. The more the merrier.”

Poole Mayor, Cllr Phil Eades, is due to officially open the event and set the swimmers on their way on the Saturday morning and the last team is due to enter the water at 5pm on the Sunday.

All you need is a team of six with a non-swimming captain.

Each team member will need to swim one lap – or two lengths of the pool – in rotation, with the team clocking up as many lengths as they can in 55 minutes.

Children can swim widths at the shallow end of the pool if they wish.

More details and application forms are available from Ray Kressinger at raykressinger@hotmail.com or 07739 638318.