Swimmers took to the cold winter waters of the Murray River, raising more than $1300 as part of this year’s Big Freeze swim event.
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Organised the Barracudas swim group, more than 20 people braved the cold conditions to raise money for Fight MND — a charity aimed at finding a cure for Motor Neurone Disease.
Luke Barlow is the main man behind organising the Echuca Moama Big Freeze event, which is now in its third year.
He said the conditions this year were a bit trickier than in previous events.
“It was good. It was probably a couple of degrees colder than last year and the river is up so it was flowing a bit harder, so the challenge for us to swim up was pretty hard,” Mr Barlow said.
Mr Barlow and the Barracudas had a goal of raising $1000 for Fight MND, with Mr Barlow himself pledging to donate $20 for every swimmer who touched the old bridge.
The group soared past its target with more $1300 raised so far.
Held on the Monday of the Queen’s birthday long weekend to coincide with the Big Freeze event at the MCG, from which it drew inspiration, Mr Barlow said it was great to take to the water for such a special cause.
“The Big Freeze is a good thing to be part of, particularly when you have a group that has been affected by it recently. It means something more and makes it more special this year, for sure,” he said.
“It’s the group atmosphere. To get everyone together and raise funds for MND is always a good thing. Once you get down here you just want to get in and go.”
He said the event had grown from a handful of people taking part in the first swim to a far more organised event now.
“Originally it was a ramshackle group that got together and thought ‘we should swim together for the big freeze’,” he said.
“It was a group of five or six in that first year. Last year we said we’d get a bit more organised and we had a fundraising site going.
“We had a target of $1000 and we certainly got there this morning and the donations have kept coming in.”
Mr Barlow thanked everyone who donated for their contributions, as well as all the people who came down to support the swimmers on Monday morning.