A TEAM of swimmers from York St John University will take part in an outdoor challenge for a local charity.

The university's swimming team, the YSJ Sharks, have pledged to take part in the Great North Swim which takes place in Lake Windemere, in support of York Rescue Boat.

The swim, in June, sees hundreds of people take to the lake to cover a variety of distances and raise money for good causes of their choice, with the Sharks choosing Dave Benson's charity.

The team chooses charities each year to raise money for, and following the death of 20-year-old fine art student Megan Roberts last January decided to nominate the YRB as their charity of the year.

Natalie Hellowell is the social secretary of the club, and said: "A few of our students knew Megan Roberts and a few of the people who died in the rivers last year.

"With the Great North Swim being in June, we decided that as a team it would be a really good thing as it linked with us as a team but it's swimming in open water which raises awareness of that too."

The team is also arranging for Dave Benson to visit the university to engage with students about river safety, and hoped they would meet or surpass their initial fundraising target to help the charity.

Ten members of the team, including coaches and committee members, will take part in the swim, which allows entrants to take part in half-mile to five kilometre challenges in Lake Windemere.

Natalie said: "In the past we've raised money for the RNLI and just passed that down but this year we decided to change it and go with the YRB. We have put a target of £700 on the fundraising page, and it's in June so we're quite a way away but anything we could raise would be amazing. We have quite a lot of support within the student union, so that helps.

"None of us have any previous experience with open swimming but we're all competent swimmers. It's completely different to anything we've done before, but we're quite excited and looking forward to getting stuck into something different. We are extremely grateful for any donations however big or small as they all go to such a worthy cause."

To donate, go to givey.com/yorkstjohnsharks_greatnorthswim