Distance is no barrier | Whitsundays News | Local News in Whitsundays

Todd Cameron and Rob Hutchings will swim from Whitsunday Island to Hamilton Island on February 20 to kick off their campaign to swim the length of the Great Barrier Reef later this year.

TWO marathon swimmers, Rob Hutchings and Todd Cameron, have set their sights on swimming the full length of the Great Barrier Reef – a distance of 2300km in late 2010.

The swimmers – in the Whitsundays next month to launch the campaign with a promotional 12 kilometre swim from Whitsunday Island to Hamilton Island on February 20 – have targeted the mammoth swim to raise awareness of the Reef’s suffering due to climate change and the slaughter of sharks for the Asian shark finning trade.

Both are passionate about the causes they’re swimming for and Hutchings said he was looking forward to the challenge.

“I have always dreamed of doing an extreme expedition like climbing Everest, but I’m not a mountain climber,” Hutchings said.

“Swimming is my passion and the Great Barrier Reef is my Everest.”

Swimming in tandem with a support team of kayakers, sailing and semi rigid boats, it is anticipated that the swim will take between three and four months.

Cameron, who has recently travelled from Toronto, Canada to train for the swim with Hutchings in Adelaide, said the pair would be in good shape for the rigours of the long slog.

“Based on current training we anticipate to swim between 20 and 30 kilometres per day,” he said.

The Great Barrier Reef Swim will launch its website www.gbrswim.org before the February swim and has already gained considerable interest with a rapidly growing Facebook group, Great Barrier Reef Swim.

The expedition team is currently in the process of recruiting sponsors.