Campaigner's Isle of Wight swim to highlight sea pollution

Oly Rush aims to complete the ultra swim in less than 26 hours

An environmental campaigner has begun an attempt to swim around the Isle of Wight in record time to highlight the issue of marine pollution.

Oly Rush - known as the "Vegan Powerhouse" - set off on the 65-mile (105km) swim from Seaview shortly after 11:00 BST.

He swam Dorset's coast last summer to highlight the same issue.

Before the start he said the swim would be "the hardest physical and mental challenge" he had taken on.

"The aim is to open people's eyes to the devastating impact of plastic pollution, as well as raising the vital funds we need to combat it," he added.

Mr Rush, a plasterer from Poole, launched his 100-mile (160km) Jurassic Coast swim last summer after being involved in beach clean-ups following the influx of visitors after lockdown restrictions were eased.

He has been training by completing swims of up to 12 hours ahead of the Isle of Wight challenge.

He aims to beat the existing wetsuit-assisted record for the ultra swim, which is only believed to have been completed on four occasions, of 26 hours set in 2016..

By 20:00 his GPS tracker showed he was just passing Niton Undercliff.

Oly Rush swam up to 13 miles (21km) a day along the Unesco World Heritage coast in September 2020