Buckingham MP and Speaker of the House of Commons, John Bercow, has completed a 200 length (or 5km) swimming challenge as part of the charity Brain Tumour Research’s autumn Conquer it Together campaign and has to date raised nearly £3,000.

Mr Bercow’s amazing swim was part of a Marathon Sport Challenge event held on 13th October at the Swan Pool and Leisure Centre in Buckingham, in which participants were given the choice of five sporting disciplines: swimming, running, cycling, spincycling and zumba to raise funds for Brain Tumour Research.

Brain Tumour Research patron, swimmer Craig Gibbons, who represented Team GB in the 4 x 100 metres freestyle relay at the London Olympics was on hand to award Mr Bercow with a Conquer it Together medal for his incredible achievement.

John Bercow, himself a very supportive patron of Brain Tumour Research, kept up a steady pace throughout his marathon swim. He said: “I’m delighted – and relieved – to have completed the 5,000 metres (200 lengths). As people who were patient enough to count can testify, I am a very plodding swimmer, but I was determined to complete the course because Brain Tumour Research is a fantastic cause which needs all the support it can get.”

Mr Bercow continued: “I was alerted to the plight of brain tumours back in 2004 and led the first ever adjournment debate on brain tumours in the House of Commons. Since then I have been involved with and supported Ali’s Dream (a local brain tumour charity in my constituency) and from 2009 also Brain Tumour Research. It was a shock to learn that more children and people under 40 die of a brain tumour than from any other cancer.”

To sponsor John Bercow, go to www.justgiving.com/john-bercow1

Sue Farrington Smith, director of Brain Tumour Research said: “We are very grateful to the Swan Pool & Leisure Centre for hosting the Marathon Sport Challenge. John’s swim was awesome and hopefully it will create greater awareness of the desperate need for funds for research into brain tumours, which currently receives less than 1% (0.7%) of national cancer research spending. Just 14% of patients with brain cancer survive five years, compared with over 50% for most other cancers, so we really do need to find better treatments and ultimately a cure and bring hope to patients diagnosed with this disease and their families.”

For more information on the work of Brain Tumour Research go to www.braintumourresearch.org or telephone 01296 733011.