A group of young swimmers have caused a splash by raising over £500 for charity.

The junior swimmers from City of St Albans Swimming Club (CoStA) took part in their first swimathon yesterday to raise money for the charity VICTA, which helps visually impaired children get involved in sport.

The group of 117 swimmers, aged between six and 12 were set a challenge to swim as far as possible in one hour.

Together, the children swam over 150 miles - the same distance between St Albans and Belgium.

The event was championed by Mel Orchard, a physiotherapist, who provided sports massages for all the participants.

The children kept their strengths up with homemade treats from the cake sale which ran for four hours and raised £160.

CoStA Club chairman Matt Jarman said: “The club’s youngsters were really happy to support such a great cause. As a club, we also want to help our younger swimmers reach their potential, and with that in mind, we’ll be using a proportion of the funds raised to improve equipment and fund additional pool time.

The kids all put their hearts and souls into swimming as far as they could.”

Mel Orchard will be running the London Marathon in April 2014 to raise even more money for VICTA.

• Donate to VICTA via CoStA’s Virgin Money Giving page at http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/CoStAandMel.