HANGOVER cures come in all shapes and sizes but the Radcliffe Swimming Club New Year's Day morning dip remains one of the most unusual - and well attended.

A total of 13 hardy swimmers took the plunge in near-freezing conditions at Starmount Lodge in Bradley Fold Road, immediately erasing the legacy of the previous night's excesses.

The brave swimmers completed a 70-yard course, remaining in the water for only a couple of minutes, quite long enough as they all agreed!

Club chairman Mrs Sabina Carr said: "The swim is a tradition but quite a few of those taking part hadn't done it before. And one of the younger ones said it had been horrible!

"It is an ordeal but a much more adventurous way to spend New Year's Day than sitting in front of the television with a box of chocolates."

The event has been every Radcliffe swimmer's nightmare since its inception in 1966, but nonetheless one which has remained impossible to resist for many of those same local water babies ever since then!

Specially inscribed millennium paperweights were presented to the first man to finish, Steven Duckworth, and the first woman, Leann Heywood, and to the youngest, Emma Hindley (9), oldest male, Brian Caton (45) and oldest female, Angela Mitchell (45).

Mr Duckworth also collected the Tony Heaton Shield as the first swimmer to finish overall. Mr Heaton was a Radcliffe Swimming Club member and conquered the English Channel back in 1975.

Each of the other swimmers completing the arduous but invigorating aquatic challenge received a Bury Swimming Club centenary medal.

A millennium paperweight was presented to Bury Sub Aqua Club, which has supported the swim over many years. Each diver also received a Bury Swimming Club centenary tumbler. Bury Sub Aqua Club members act as lifeguards and clear the lodge of obstacles before the swim.

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