The Great North Swim is the first in the next generation of sports events about to sweep the UK following our success in the event at the Olympics in Beijing.

The event on Saturday 13th Sept saw well over 2000 swimmers in 12 separate heats swimming a mile in the cool waters of Lake Windermere in the Lake District. Tom Paterson , using the latest High Def Toshiba camera head, was entrusted with covering the events from the main chase boat. His pictures were not only recorded for a Channel 4 film of the event but also beamed live to a big screen on the shore where thousands of spectators were watching.

"I was most concerned before the event with the danger of splashing the camera but, on sound advice from both Steffan and John Gillan, managed to encase it in a plastic bag containing silica gel as well as inserting the beads directly inside the camera body. My worries about dipping the camera into the water were unfounded due, partly to a nice calm day and to moving the centre of gravity slightly further forward which meant the pole naturally sat well up. Everyone was impressed with the quality and dynamism of what was produced especially sweeping moves and big foreground action shots. The Polecam really showed it's potential and will definitely be used for future events of this type."