On November 8th, five relay teams representing a cross-section of Hong Kong’s diverse community will swim 45 km around Hong Kong Island in the Make Waves for Hong Kong event.
Five teams composed of 30 swimmers and business leaders will take part to benefit the Splash Foundation, a charity dedicated to improving access to swimming for disadvantaged children and adults. Their programs are free-of-cost to learners across the city and see a 90% success rate at the end of 20 hours of instruction..
Despite having the longest coastline of any city and an abundance of swimming pools, around half of Hong Kongers, mostly women and children from low-income communities, are unable to swim.
The teams include Olympic swimmers Geoff Cheah and Hannah Wilson, fourth-generation Hong Kong jeweller Jada Lam, and migrant domestic worker Josephine Tolentino.
Four different people. Four different perspectives. Same course. Same cause.
Geoff Cheah
Geoff Cheah, an alumnus of Stanford University working on start-up initiatives at Wheelock and Company, represented Hong Kong in the Rio Olympics. “It shocks me that 47% of Hong Kong secondary school students don’t know how to swim and may never have had the opportunity. Swimming has opened so many doors for me personally. All my best friends are those who I grew up competing and training with. I’m doing this challenge so we can improve swimming lessons for kids and adults in Hong Kong.”
He will be swimming with Arnaud Redon, Case Everaert, Eugene Chu, Hannah Wilson, and Josephine Tolentino.
Hannah Wilson
Hannah Wilson is a 3-time Olympic swimmer for Hong Kong at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and 2012 London Olympic Games and won two Universiade gold medals as well as competed in a 15 km Cold Half Marathon Swim relay.
She will be swimming with Arnaud Redon, Case Everhaert, Eugene Chu, Geoffrey Robin Cheah, and Josephine Tolentino.
Josephine Tolentino
Josephine Tolentino is one of Splash Foundation’s first graduates. Since learning to swim in 2016, she has competed in many local open water swims and made several podiums. She said, “Swimming became the best solution I had to the stress and homesickness that comes with being a migrant worker. I took the first step to learn to swim and found there was so much I could achieve. I want everyone to have the opportunity I had.”
He will be swimming with Arnaud Redon, Case Everhaert, Eugene Chu, Geoff Cheah, and Hannah Wilson.
Jada Lam
50-year-old Jada Lam wanted a new challenge to mark the milestone, “Swimming is an incredible exercise that teaches you that nothing is impossible. When I started swimming again in my 40’s, I couldn’t even manage two laps of the pool. But I’ve found this incredible sense of fulfilment and camaraderie with other swimmers as I’ve progressed. There will definitely be some friendly competition between the teams, but the main motivation for all of us is to help break down the barriers of learning to swim.”
She will be swimming with Antonia Li, Gregory Van, Harry Krkalo, Marko Stojanović, and Shauna Krkalo.
Make Waves for Hong Kong
● The annual event builds awareness around the city’s historically low swim literacy rates, where nearly half the population is unable to swim
● The teams aim to raise HK$3.5million for Splash Foundation to help thousands of disadvantaged children and adults experience the transformative impact of learning to swim.
● The swim will start in the early hours of Friday morning and is expected to take around 12 hours to complete.
● Relay swimmers will take turns swimming in 30-minute intervals.
The other teams include:
Team Green with Alison Tam, Antony Crockett, Jo Hull, Lucas Vitale, Monica Browning, and Shiau Sin Yen. Team Purple with Grace Pang, Andrew O’Regan, Carmelo Ficarra, Ella Karsemeijer, Paul Mak, and Spencer Fung.. Team Red with Jo Lynn Teh, Johan Dulat, Justin Tan, Melanie Speet, Regine Goh, and Wouter Duyck.
For more information, visit www.splashfoundation.org/makewaves.
© 2024 Daily News of Open Water Swimming
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