Black Dog Fresh Water

The unseasonal and tempestuous weather conditions that have plagued the country since the new year began have conspired to foil the plans of ultra-distance swimmer George Glover.

The young Marlburian was poised to swim 300km from New Brighton Pier, in Christchurch, to Whites Bay in Marlborough in a bid to raise much-needed funds for charity.

However, a particularly nasty weather system and unfavourable forecast for the time of the swim has forced George to turn to plan B.

Along with his support team he has put the ocean swim on hold and will instead move inland, attempting to swim 15 loops of Lake Rotoiti at St Arnaud. Each loop is approximately 20km which will mean George will have to cover 300km to complete his latest challenge, which will begin on January 28 and hopefully wind up on Waitangi Weekend.

While disappointed to defer the coastal challenge which he had spent many months building up to, both physically and mentally, George maintained his usual positive attitude as his attention quickly turned to a challenging freshwater swim.

“You can’t argue with the weather system,” he suggested, “I would have been battling a north-south current flow the whole way.

He has set a goal of raising $100,000 for Mike King’s I Am Hope charity throughout the coastal challenge, supporting the charity’s work providing positive attitudinal societal change around mental health throughout New Zealand, and funding private care and counselling for young people stuck-in-the-mud on waiting lists.