Swim Jurassic sets out to sea to raise hope for the future

These are the words of local swimmer Oly Rush just before he started on his mammoth 96-mile swim from Exmouth to Studland today, 26 August.

The long-distance swim will take Oly between 9-10 days and is to raise funds and awareness of the issues that are plaguing the coastline of the UK’s only World Heritage site – the Jurassic Coast.

Oly has chosen to swim along the length of coastline that he regularly cleans in his spare time. He remains vigilant as a beach cleaner throughout the year and says his favourite spot is Chapman’s Pool in Worth Matravers. This remote coastal area could easily be ruined by plastic if it wasn’t for volunteers like Oly who spend hours collecting and removing it, along with other litter, from the shore.

On his swim, Oly is being accompanied by friend and fellow beach cleaner, Roy Beale, who will be kayaking alongside him, keeping him safe, motivated and well fed. Roy operates cleanjurassicacoast.uk, a group of like minded individuals who have banded together to help keep the coast clean from rubbish by doing regular beach cleans along the Jurassic Coast.

Oly has exceeded his target of £2,000 to raise for the charities Clean Jurassic Coast and Go Pladdle. With donations pushing just over £3,000, he has received tremendous support on his journey, but if you would like to donate to Oly during his swim, please follow the link:

https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/swimjurassic