An 11-year-old from Douglas will this week become the youngest solo competitor to ‘swim the TT course’ for charity.
Sorcha Osborne, 11, will take the chequered flag, waved by Paul Kermode, the TT’s official Chief Startline Marshal, at the Western Swimming Pool on Thursday at the end of her 37.75-mile effort.
The pool launched the TT Swim Challenge to raise funds for St John Ambulance Isle of Man’s Community First Responders – highly trained first aiders who are despatched by the Ambulance and Paramedic Service to aid people who take ill in rural areas, often arriving before an emergency crew and tending to the patient until an ambulance arrives.
Forty-two individuals and 29 teams are taking part. Their £10 entry fee has gone to the Community First Responders (CFRs). Although free to raise money for their own good causes, several participants are pledging their sponsorship money to St John Ambulance, as well.
Participants who took the plunge in January, and include a five-year-old and a school team from Marown Primary, are plotting their progress on a map of the world-famous motorbike course as they swim 2,416 lengths of the pool in Derby Road, Peel, with a mid-April deadline.
Six teams and nine solo swimmers have already finished, some even setting out on a second lap, but Sorcha is the youngest so far.
The St Thomas’ CofE Primary School pupil has been swimming after school and at weekends, clocking up at least 250 lengths a week.
She has raised more than £800, with money still coming in from family, friends and well-wishers.
Her effort is all the more remarkable as she has juggled the swim with her other hobbies, which include horse riding, learning to play the clarinet, Manx dancing and off-road motorcycling.
The cause is close to Sorcha’s heart as not only is she a St John Ambulance Cadet, and a helper at her old Badger sett, which she joined when she was five, but her mum Lynda is the life-saving charity’s County Executive Officer.
Sorcha has attended weekly swimming lessons at Peel for the last five years and has achieved Level 8 (of 10) and is working towards Level 9. She is also taking lifeguard badges.
She said: ‘It has been hard swimming every day but helping a charity and doing something I enjoy feels great. Even though it was hard, I am glad that I did it and I think it will be really strange to change my daily routine now the challenge is over.’
The TT Swim Challenge was the idea of Krysy Howard, a lifeguard at the Western pool, who trained to be a CFR following the most recent recruitment drive, held before Christmas.
The event has been kindly supported by QDos Marketing Ltd, Stuart Blackley Ltd and R&B Limousines.
Those who took part will attend a well-deserved awards night and celebration buffet at the Highwayman, Peel, on the 11th April starting at 7pm.
For further information about St John Ambulance Isle of Man or to find out how to sign up for first aid courses, volunteer or support its work via donations, please ring 01624 674387 or visit www.sja.org.uk/sja/counties/isle-of-man.aspx
