Saturday's Great North Swim cancelled (From The Westmorland Gazette)

Saturday's Great North Swim cancelled

5:29pm Friday 22nd June 2012 in Sport By Scott Kirk, Reporter

SATURDAY'S Great North Swim has been cancelled because of strong winds.

An independent event planning group checked Windermere at 4.30pm today (Friday) and the weather forecast for tomorrow predicts strong gusting winds, which are expected to ease on Saturday night.

All the one-mile events have now been cancelled and the thousands of participants expected to take part will be given a full refund.

Hundreds of spectators were also expected in Windermere for the swimming extravaganza.

Strong winds affect the safety of kayakers to operate and also make swimming conditions extremely challenging.

The programme of events will continue as planned on the Sunday, which includes Friday's two-mile swim calendar and the original half-mile events, with weather conditions being monitored on a regular basis.

But those who were due to take part on Saturday will not now swim their event.

David Hart, of organisers Nova International, said: “We are sorry to cancel the one mile event and fully understand the inconvenience this will cause, but the safety and well-being of our participants will always be our overriding priority.”

All participants have been notified by email and text or phone message of the change.

Further information is available at www.greatswim.org