World Record Attempt

ACS (Barker Road)

Rules:     

• One person is to swim 25m (1 breath of the pool) before passing on to the next swimmer

• Everyone can only swim ONCE

• Chose the time slot that you and your friends can attend

Why:

• To raise funds for the BB Learning Centre in Cambodia (to teach computer & English lessons for Cambodians)

• To break Guinness World Record for Singapore!

1. On our Nation's 40th birthday, a team of Singapore youths want to challenge Singapore’s young, below 35 years old, to establish a world mass participation swimming record.
    
2. Members of the 66^th Singapore Company of The Boys’ Brigade, want our Youth to show that they are men/women of steel, able and ever-ready for real challenges by rallying around this attempt to break the Guinness world swimming record for our Nation in a 24-hour Swimathon.
    
3. We need 2,600 youths, below 35, to swim one lap each over a 24-hour period, from 10am 27 August to 10am 28 August 2005 – a total of 2,600 laps – to break the Guinness world record of 2,456 laps by 2,456 swimmers within 24 hours.
    
4. We have only 190 swimmers at present, 2 weeks from the swimathon date.  We appeal urgently to Singapore’s youths who can swim reasonably well, i.e. one lap (25meter only!) in 35 seconds or less, to sign up for the swimathon.   We need another 2,400 to sign up urgently! 
    
5. Apart from doing something to make Singaporeans proud of their ability to take on world-class challenges, the swimathon will also seek to raise funds for The Boys’ Brigade Learning Centre for orphans being built by our volunteer BB Boys and Officers in Cambodia.  So far we have raised around $10,000 for the swimathon.  Our target is $100,000.  We appeal also for corporate donations and individual sponsorship of the laps to be swum. 
    
6. We want to involve all youths – male and female – in Singapore in this project, including beneficiaries of our BB community development programme, even those receiving special care, as long as they are able to swim.  We know our beneficiaries can also contribute to the community and be part of a worthwhile and inspiring challenge, such as our 27 August swimathon. 
    
7. As a fall back, and in case we do not rally 2,600 youths, we appeal also to older Singaporeans who can swim at a fairly good pace, to come forward to join our swimathon – as standby – to break the existing record, if we cannot establish a completely new one of youths below 35 swimming more than 2,456 laps within 24 hours. 
    
8. We hope to achieve the target of rallying 2,600 youth and young at heart to come forward to set this record together as a 40^th birthday present for Singapore.  It will also be an important milestone for The Boys’ Brigade in Singapore, the world’s oldest uniformed youth organization (founded in Glasgow in 1883), which is celebrating its 75^th anniversary in Singapore this year. 
    
9. This is a project of the Citibank-YMCA Youth For Causes 2005 programme, which is also an event of the President’s Challenge. 
    
10. We plan to do a webcast of the swimathon with a clock to monitor in real-time the number of laps swum and the time taken, as a countdown to our record setting attempt of 2,600 laps within 24 hours. 
     
11. Those who wish to volunteer to swim one lap each are urged to contact BB Swimathon World Record at email bbswimathon@yahoo.com.sg, or log onto www.bb.org.sg/swimathon immediately.  They could also phone Mr. Ang Yong Wei at tel. 96986838. 
     
12. Donors, corporate and individual, can also make their donations by making out their cheques to THE BOYS’ BRIGADE IN SINGAPORE, and sending it to BB Campus, 105 Ganges Avenue, S(169695) before 27 Aug 2005. Or come to the swimathon, to swim and with your donations, at ACS (Barker Road) between 10am 27 August and 10 am 28 August 2005.
     
13. We urge all who want to help set a new world record and show what people in Singapore can do by responding today to our appeal.