CityLife

David's super swim for Sport Relief

IF comedian David Walliams is successful in his charity bid to swim the English Channel later this month, then Manchester can claim at least a small part of the credit.

For I hear that David has been training for the last six months at Manchester Aquatics Centre, on Oxford Road, and building up his strength and stamina for the long swim ahead.

David - one half of the duo behind hit comedy show Little Britain - revealed last week that he was to embark on the epic 21-mile journey across the channel in aid of the BBC's Sport Relief charity campaign.

And I can now reveal that David has been a regular visitor at the Aquatics Centre for the past six months - swimming in the pool around three times a week for more than an hour and a half at a time.

But he's not been asking for any special treatment - quite the contrary. He'd been happily slipping in and out of the pool as a paying customer before pool staff realised who he was and offered him his own private lane.

The Centre's contract manager Mark Snaylam tells me: "David was very, very down to earth and a great guy. We offered him private changing facilities but he didn't want to be treated any differently to other swimmers at the pool.

Crawl

"He had been training here for about six months, and we've noticed his front crawl improve dramatically during that time."

David has now jetted off to Croatia to get in some training in outdoor conditions in readiness for the marathon swim planned for early July, but made time to thank the Aquatics Centre for its hospitality.

He said: "Thanks to everyone at Manchester Aquatics Centre for accommodating me during my training.

"It has been an extremely difficult process, and I can't believe that fairly soon I'm going to have to make my own way to France.

"I'm just hoping that my efforts will raise tonnes of money for Sport Relief."

I hear that part of the documentary about his attempt, called Little Britain's Big Swim, has been filmed in Manchester, and will be shown on BBC1 on July 14.

In the meantime, fans who would like to sponsor David's swim can do so at www.sportrelief.com/superswim .