British Universities
The British Universities Sports Association (BUSA) brought World Swim For Malaria
to the attention of the universities in the UK by sending out a simple email.
University swimming captains started to hit 'reply' and said count us in and the
numbers grew. Simple really.
The plan is to link all the universities involved by adding together the distances
they swim and, by considering the swim to be due west and from a 'starting point'
of Leeds (why not - they were the first university to come forward - Latitude: 53:47:52N,
Longitude: 1:33:01W), work out where on the planet's surface the combined swim ends
up. Middle of the Atlantic? Newfoundland or Quebec? Gulf of Alaska? Aleutian Islands?
Maybe the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia?
A fundraising 'sweepstake' is being planned where you make a guess in degrees, minutes
and seconds. They are going to have some fun with this!
A geography department is being sought to help with adjudication. Volunteers anyone?
Most of the swims are being organised by the swimming clubs at the universities
but many are partnering with community service groups so that students across the
university and not just squad swimmers are involved.
In the coming weeks, the universities involved will be shown on the map below. And
soon after 3rd Dec 2005 you can find out where they ended up.