British Gas Great Swim Series Begins 19th June, 2010

LONDON, June 14 /PRNewswire/ -- The British Gas Great Swim Series is the UK's leading outdoor swimming event and kicks off in Suffolk on the 19th of June.

The Series consists of five open water swims in the lakes, lochs or docks of Suffolk, London, Strathclyde, Windermere and Salford. Each of the Great Swims is supervised and offers a safe environment to enjoy a new challenge in the great outdoors -- without the chlorine!

Many people enter to support a charity while others simply relish a new challenge. Each one-mile swim equates to roughly 64 lengths of a 25m swimming pool and while that may sound daunting, it is manageable for swimmers of all abilities -- you just need to be over 16. Last year's event saw over 10,000 swimmers jumping in, including an 86-year-old granddad!

Each televised swim also offers you the opportunity to see some of the world's top swimmers compete against one another in an elite race. And this year also includes a celeb or two - including supermodel Jodie Kidd.

After being forced to withdraw from the London Marathon due to injury, Jodie decided to take up a new challenge -- swimming. After some intense coaching from Welsh open water swimmer and Olympic silver medallist David Davies, she will be participating in the Suffolk Great Swim in aid of several charities including Help a London Child and The Jodie Kidd Foundation.

David will also be competing in two of the events, firstly with Jodie in Suffolk and then in London on Saturday 3rd July. Although participating in the same event, David admits that he is the one taking the competition side of things a bit more seriously, saying: "Personally, I'm hoping to achieve winning times in both events and can guarantee I'll be giving it my all."

Each Great Swim offers a unique swimming experience and should not be missed. And for those looking for more (or less!) of a challenge, you can also sign up for a 500m open water swim (for 11 year olds and up) or a two-mile race.

Entries for the Suffolk Great Swim close this Friday, so enter now!

To find out more about the British Gas great swim series go to http://www.greatswim.org

About British Gas:

British Gas is the UK's leading provider of electricity, gas and home repair services.  The company employs 12,000 staff in UK based call centres and over 8,000 CORGI registered engineers. In 1999 British Gas became one of only 30 companies worldwide to achieve BSI Company Wide Registration.

For all media enquiries please contact: British Gas Press Office, +44 (0)845-072-8002

SOURCE British Gas