Finathon champions are full of imagination and bravery when it comes to setting their target distance! But it's not always about how far you swim, the Finathon for some is a personal fitness challenge or simply a little fun for a Fintastic cause.

2300km the length of Great Barrier Reef Australia

This week Todd Cameron completed a total of 2300km, the same length as the Great Barrier Reef to raise awareness for sharks. Congratulations Todd on your amazing achievement and reaching fourth on the Finathon Leaderboard.

“When I was a kid I used to spend hours and hours in the pool pretending I was a shark. Not much has changed.... Sharks have been a passion of mine since before I can remember.”  Todd began his swim in 2012 when he travelled to Australia for the Whitsunday Swim, a 14.5km first-time crossing from Whitsunday Island to Hamilton Island. Since then he’s just kept swimming and crossed the finish line on 20th June flying the Finathon flag for sharks.

Give your friends the power to set your distance

In 2013 PADI Master Instructor, Andrew Barrett was our first brave Finathon champion to place his target distance in the hands of his friends. For every $10 over his fundraising goal Andrew said he’d swim an extra 100 metres. Huge international support poured in for Andrew and he raised over $900 at www.finathon.org. Andrew swam 7.5 kilometres in four hours. PADI Representatives Gio and Tim have set a similar challenge and are set to swim this week in Thailand. The boys have pledged to swim 1 meter for every 10 Thai Baht donated, so if you want to see the PADI managers swim further make a donation this week!

Choose a distance and work towards it to achieve your goals

After swimming around seven small Thai islands, totalling 10km, it was suggested to Scandy Andy that he should swim around Koh Samui, an impressive 84.7 km swim.

“At first I thought this idea was a little bit over the top as the logistics, safety and time needed to complete this swim would be very difficult to arrange. But the seed was planted and I knew I had found my next challenge. I have given myself a very big challenge, as I am not really a swimmer and have only been swimming for three months,” said Andy.  

Taking into consideration the safety and logistics Andy wisely decided to swim the distance of the island in a swimming pool over 30 days! It’s all great training for ocean swimming.  “Today I did something I never thought possible three months ago. I swam over 5km freestyle. I am very proud to be a part of the Finathon movement and being a shark ambassador,” added Andy.

Distance doesn't always matter - Create a fun challenge in the pool 

Even if you aren’t located in a tropical paradise you can choose an island distance, set a goal and swim at your local pool! This week we welcome back Erika and Jade Fairweather, two of our youngest participants from the 2013 Dive Otago event who are planning to dive through a hoop 100 times between them! Way to go girls – whatever challenge you choose everyone can get swimming to end finning! www.finathon.org

Thanks to all our Finathon Champions and everyone who has donated so far! If you're swimming in a pool this July tell us which tropical island you're dreaming of while you swim! Fins Up.

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