Round the clock battle

Round the clock battle

Lilyfield husband-and-wife team, James and Melissa Nott, are amongst the hundreds of people taking part in the Sydney 24 Hour Mega Swim, taking place at Homebush Olympic Pool this weekend, with the aim of helping the organisers raise their target of $250,000.

Founded in Victoria in 2001, the 24 Hour Mega Swim is a relay where teams of up to 15 members compete in swimming the furthest. Over the past ten years the initiative has raised in excess of $1.8 million to directly support people with MS.

“The company I work for entered a team last year,” Mr Nott said. “A few of our guys were involved and spoke very highly of it in terms of what a great team-building exercise it was. A few of the people we work with who are touched by MS – we’re good friends with their families too, and it’s just a good chance to show support for them.”

Both James and Melissa have spent “a fair bit of time in the pool” in training, with the expectation they will spend around 3 hours in total out of the 24 pounding the lanes of the Aquatic Centre. However, obviously not afraid of a challenge, the Notts are off to inflict further physical punishment by tackling the Kokoda Trail in short succession. “The swim is a nice warm-up session!” Mr Nott said.

Nevertheless, there is a serious point to all this, and for James it hit home all too recently. “I recently received an email from a friend who saw I was doing the swim, and he was at the funeral last week of a lady, similar age to myself, who passed away through complications, leaving a husband and a couple of young kids,” he said. “For people our age to be in that situation is horrendous – it’s really hit home. To be honest I didn’t really know a heck of a lot about it – I didn’t realise the extent of it, and the age group, people around 30, and particularly women.”

Multiple sclerosis is the most common disease of the central nervous system, for which there is no known cure, and affects some 20,000 Australians. It interferes with the brain’s ability to control functions such as seeing, walking and talking. It is usually diagnosed between the ages of 20 and 40, and affects four times as many women as men.

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