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Endurance swimmer to become first ever Pole to swim length of Loch Ness as he raises money for hospital beds

Completing the 36-km ‘Loch Ness “MONSTER” Swim’, endurance swimmer Piotr Biankowski will be raising money for the Ronald McDonald Foundation in Poland.
Piotr Biankowski/Facebook

A Polish endurance swimmer is preparing to take on the epic challenge of swimming across Scotland’s legendary Loch Ness to raise money for sick children and their parents in Polish hospitals.

Completing the 37-km ‘Loch Ness “MONSTER” Swim’, extreme swimmer Piotr Biankowski will be raising money for the Ronald McDonald Foundation in Poland.

Biankowski will be accompanied on the swim by English Channel swimming veteran Kevin Murphy, who will act as his pilot and fellow Pole and open water swimmer Aleksandra Kabelis (pictured).Piotr Biankowski/Facebook

Upon successfully completing the challenge, Biankowski will also achieve the feat of becoming the first Polish man to ever swim Loch Ness.

The money raised, which currently stands at just over 9,000 PLN, exceeding the initial 5,000 PLN target, will be used to help hospitals in Gdynia and Wejherowo to buy beds for parents whose children have been admitted to hospital.

CC BY-SA 2.0

Loch Ness is the second-largest loch in Scotland and, according to legend, home to the Loch Ness Monster (also known as “Nessie”), a large unknown animal. Public domain

No stranger to extreme charity swims, Biankowski made headlines last year when he completed a swim across the English Channel in 15 hours, also in aid of Ronald McDonald, a charity he is an ambassador of.

Helen Zollinger, community fundraiser for Ronal McDonald House Charities UK in Scotland said: “We were delighted to learn that Piotr has chosen Scotland for his next amazing fundraising challenge, and we wish him all the very best as he attempts to become the first Pole in history to swim across Loch Ness.

No stranger to extreme charity swims, Biankowski made headlines last year when he completed a swim across the English Channel in 15 hours, also in aid of Ronald McDonald, a charity he is an ambassador of.Piotr Biankowski/Facebook

“Ronald McDonald House Charities has a shared global vision to help families with sick children in hospital stay close to each other when they need it most.”

Biankowski will be accompanied on the swim by English Channel swimming veteran Kevin Murphy, who will act as his pilot and fellow Pole and open water swimmer Aleksandra Kabelis.

He anticipates that the hardest part of the challenge will be the cold temperature of the water, which is expected to be between 14-15 degrees Celsius, even on one of the hottest days of the year.

Biankowski said the hardest part of the challenge will be the cold temperature of the water, which is expected to be between 14-15 degrees Celsius, even on one of the hottest days of the year.Piotr Biankowski/Facebook

Having originally planned to start out on Tuesday morning, a change in the weather has since delayed the start to later in the week.

Updating his followers about the preparations for his challenge on his social media, Biankowski wrote on Monday: “In the space of a few hours, everything changed – in the direction of Scotland a strong front is heading which will delay my start to Thursday or Friday.

“That leaves me with nothing other than to be patient. We will inform you about our next steps, keep your fingers crossed for good weather!”.

The money raised will be used to help hospitals in Gdynia and Wejherowo to buy beds for parents whose children have been admitted to hospital.zrzutka.pl

He also thanked his followers for their donations and told them: “Last year it was you who gave me the motivation to find the strength in myself to conquer the English Channel…I strongly believe that also now, together we will show that the strength of community is huge and that helping others is child’s play!!!”.

Writing on the online collection page on the 18th July, Biankowski updated his followers to tell them that the money raised so far would be able to buy four beds for parents at hospitals in Gdynia and Wejherowo, but asked them to “think of this as a good start and fight for more together!”.

To find out more about the swim, click HERE.

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