Expat to Swim Around the World in Twelve Hours

Expat Globe

In Dubai, a British expat is planning to make history by swimming around a man-made cluster of several hundred islands, known as ‘The World’ off the Emirates coast.

This challenge is being undertaken by Surrey-born Kate Willoughby, who is aiming to raise funds and create awareness for research into Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

The mammoth swimathon around ‘the world’ will cover a 25 km stretch of coastline and is expected to take 32 year old Kate a dozen hours to complete.

Willoughby, who works in Dubai’s chamber of commerce and industry said that, “When I learnt about Duchenne muscular dystrophy I was determined to do something to bring the disease into the spotlight and raise some funds towards finding a cure.”

The United Arab Emirates swimming coach, Jay Benner has been drafted in to help the expat prepare for the feat for which she is training four times a week for. She describes the swim as a “huge challenge” and said that it was “great to be able to use a landmark that everybody has heard of to raise money for an illness that few people know anything about.”

The expat hopes to raise £20,000 for the cause and donations can be made at www.swimaroundtheworld.me.