Rotarians swim to raise funds to fight polio, break world record

Lake Shore — Twenty-seven members and friends of the Rotary Clubs of Vancouver, Greater Clark County and Woodland gathered at Lake Shore Athletic Club at 4 a.m. Feb. 25 to swim in the Rotary Global Swimarathon. Participants worldwide swam laps at the exact same time (between noon and 1 p.m. GMT) to raise funds for Rotary’s PolioPlus program, which works to eradicate polio. The Rotarians’ other goal was to be listed in the Guinness Book of World Records for the most swimmers swimming 100 meters in a given hour. With more than 5,000 participants, the Rotary Global Swimarathon shattered the previous record of 2,533 participants. Greg Jellison, Bill Byrd III and Gary Bock set the local pace by swimming 47, 42 and 31 laps respectively to raise funds for PolioPlus.