DOING his bit for charity and inspiring his students at the same time, teacher Josh Callaghan dived into a marathon 10km swim at the Merbein swimming pool on Friday.
As part of Merbein P-10 College’s swimming day, the head of science co-ordinator decided he’d complete the feat to raise funds for brain cancer research, while students simultaneously raced beside him.
Callaghan took a break during the swim and spoke to the Sunraysia Daily between breaths.
“This only came about three weeks ago … I saw it as a really good chance to get the kids involved more and to raise some money,” Callaghan said.
Before he could say more, a student chimed in with an update on the teacher’s progress.
“He’s done nearly three (kilometres) at the moment,” she said.
“We figured out every 40 laps is a kilometre and we’re nearly at 100, so it should take about four hours.”
Callaghan said he would keep his tactics simple throughout the day.
“I think I’ll stick with freestyle the whole time … it might just start to slow down as the as the time goes on but that’s what I’m thinking,” he said.
“While I’m swimming, I’m thinking different things at different times.
“At times I’m thinking nothing but at other points you can hear Josh Lee rambling on a bit so I’ll listen in to that.
“I’m just stopping every now and then but I’m also lucky enough to have lots of students helping me out.”
When asked if there was a science lesson to be learned from his venture, Callaghan laughed and said it “wasn’t that complicated”.
“It was mainly just motivation to get behind the Cure Brain Cancer Foundation,” he said.
“I’ve known friends and family that have dealt with cancer before and have gone through some pretty tough times.
“Just doing a small part for that is reason enough to get in the pool.”
Callaghan, who started the swim at 9.40am, reached his 10km target at 1.43pm, and raised over $1500 in donations from students and staff at the pool.
