Doncaster woman reaches halfway in 250 mile swim to Edinburgh

Linda Carlo, 56, is attempting to swim the equivalent distance between Yorkshire and Scotland in just twelve months - and has now completed 125 miles - the distance between Doncaster and the famous Angel Of The North sculpture near Gateshead.

The Auckley woman is taking on her challenge at Armthorpe Leisure Centre, swimming five times a week to stay on target for the charity challenge, which she says was inspired by one of the famous Osmonds musical family.

She decided on the swim after losing eight stones as a way of keeping weight off and it was Justin Osmond, son of Merrill Osmond from the 70s family supergroup that gave her the idea.

She said: "Last year Justin took on a massive personal challenge to run 250 miles in just eight days.

"I began to realise I would need as big a challenge to maintain my weight loss once I got to target."

It was at the end of July last year that Linda hit on her fundraising idea which is drawing in cash for The Hearing Fund UK, a charity which raises awareness and support of deaf children and their families in the UK and which Justin is president of.

She said: "Instead of running 250 miles as Justin had done, I would swim that far instead. I would do it as a sponsored swim and raise money."

Added Linda, a former swimming instructor: "I worked out that if I could swim five times a week, with a few extra miles here and there, I would accomplish the task in exactly a year. My aim is to complete the 250 miles by Friday 6 August and I am right on schedule."

Linda, who taught swimming for 22 years, is aiming to raise £2,500 for charity and is keeping people updated on her challenge via her blog at https://carlolinda.wordpress.com/

A map is also being updated each weekend to show her progress.

She said: "The staff at Armthorpe are wonderful. I taught many of the current lifeguards to swim when they were young! They are ever so encouraging and show lots of interest in how many lengths I swim each day. I’ve made friends with a few of the regular swimmers too, although I try and keep my chatting to a minimum as I find I don’t complete my daily distance as easily if I stop for long!"

You can contribute to Linda's challenge at https://crowdfunding.justgiving.com/linda-carlo