Local swimmers and charity fund raisers are being urged to sign up for Swimathon 2002 as soon as possible, or risk missing the boat.

Tenby Leisure Centre is one of more than 500 pools participating in the event across the UK from March 18 - 24, raising more than £2 million for leading cancer care charity, Macmillan Cancer Relief and the Swimathon Foundation.

Signing up for the event could not be simpler, either get on-line and register at http://WWW.Swimathon.Org">WWW.Swimathon.Org or 'phone the Swimathon 2002 hotline on (0845 36 700 36 (local rate). The closing date for postal and e-mail entries is Tuesday, March 5, and Friday, March 15, for on-line and credit card entries.

Tenby Leisure Centre is holding two training sessions and one swimathon day. The sessions are as follows: wet training, Tuesday, March 19, at 7 pm; dry training, Thursday, March 21, at 7 pm; swimathon - Sunday, March 24, at 8.30 am.

Participants sign up for one of six challenges - swimathon (individual 5000m), half swimathon (individual 2,500m), relay swimathon (5,000m for four people), fun swimathon (individual 1,500m), team swimathon (one team of up to six people swimming 5,000m), or simply swim (for those who want to take part, but cannot make the official swimathon sessions).

Tracy Hart, of Tenby Leisure Centre, said: "Our sessions are filling up quickly, so anyone who hasn't already entered and wants to take part needs to fill in an entry form without delay to avoid disappointment. Swimathon is a fun way to do something that's personally challenging while helping others at the same time. So come on people of Tenby get your cossies on and dive into Swimathon 2002 today!"

Since the event's inception 16 years ago, more than 410,000 swimmers have swum in excess of 550,000 miles - the equivalent of swimming round the Earth 22 times! In doing so, Swimathon swimmers have raised over £17 million for 32 different charities.

For further information on Swimathon 2002 at Tenby Leisure Centre, contact Tracy on (01834) 843575 or contact the Swimathon 2002 press office on 020 7745 3300.