The annual End to End charity walk is upon us once again, with somewhere in the region of 1,300 participants sent to take to the road ? and water, too ? for the 17th annual event on Saturday.

The event, which started in 1987 as a challenge between three work colleagues at Johnson & Higgins (Bermuda) Ltd, Paul Rowlerson, Jon Borrill and Clive Cotton, has steadily grown and has reached a level where it is now considered the Island?s largest and most successful one-day charity event.

With little publicity the trio were joined by 186 other walkers in that first year as a total of $43,200 was raised for charity. Some $1.7 million has been raised for charities to date, averaging about $200,000 a year the last few years.

New features this year include dive, swim and row events. Kayakers and elite swimmers will set off from Shelly Bay and Spanish Point Boat Club respectively, while a group of divers will attempt the first relay dive from Spanish Point to Dockyard.

The Bermuda Rowing Club will join the event with at least one participant attempting to row from Shelly Bay to Dockyard...depending, of course, on the weather.

Joan Dismont has walked the end-to-end all 17 years and has been a top producing walker most of those years, coming up with innovative ways to raise money for charity. The main focus, of course, will be on those walking the end-to-end and the middle-to-end, with somewhere in the region of 1,500 local and overseas participants starting at either King?s Square in St. George?s or Albuoy?s Point in Hamilton and taking the route to Dockyard.

Making it all possible are the 200 volunteers who will be working tirelessly to put it together. From what began as a walk has evolved into an event where fundraisers walk, run, row, swim, dive or cycle across the island in the spirit of camaraderie and philanthrophy.

?It gets larger every year, both in terms of the participants but also in terms of events like scuba diving, cycling and swimming,? said committee member Ian Boatman.

?One of the things we?ve been trying to do is figure out how to expand it and one of the ways is to increase the number of sports, to include people who would not have been interested in walking or cycling. That?s proven popular.

?That, of course, means there are a lot of volunteers behind the scenes, something like 200 and 1,300 participants. There are 55 marshalls stationed along the route to help with the walkers and cyclists, there are people marshalling for the water sports and then people involved in registration.?

According to Mr. Boatman, the end-to-end is a 12-months-of-the-year task for the committee members. ?Then we start calling up the volunteers when it gets towards March, to get ready for the first Saturday in May,? he further explained.

The Department of Tourism has also come on board and hotels along the route have been encouraged to get the word out to their guests who are invited to participate.

?It is a unique way for them to see the Island,? said Mr Boatman. For the first time the walk will also have its own website at www.bermudaendtoend.bm) which will provide the latest news and information about the walk. Participants can register online to avoid the long lines at pre-registration.

Sponsored waterstops, each with their own unique character, will provide refreshments along the route. Corporate sponsors include Bank of Bermuda, Mobility Ltd, Coldwell Bankers, Bermuda Music and Dramatic Society, Youth Wing of the Bermuda Public Service Union, Pure Water, Ernst and Young, ACE Bermuda, United Bermuda Party, Mello Jones & Martin, Barritt?s and the Bacardi and Visitor Industry Partnership gang.

The Bank of Bermuda Foundation and Mobility are the premier sponsors and two of their staff members are also committee members. ?I have not had much involvement this year as far as the overall event itself, my involvement has been from the Bank of Bermuda Foundation sponsorship perspective and things that we organise within the event,? explained Karen Madeiros, the Media Relations/Events Manager at the Bank of Bermuda.

?Not only are we one of the two premier sponsors, but we also support the youth invasion initiative. We want to encourage our young people to get involved in the event and we provide an award and cash prize to the school who has the most participants.

?We introduced this award back in 1998 and back then we had about 50 students raise $7,000. Last year we had 238 students raise $17,000, so we?ve seen quite a significant growth in the young people?s involvement. What the Bank of Bermuda Foundation committed to is that we would match youth pledges up to a collective total of $10,000.?

According to the manager, there has been a huge interest shown by the schools. ?Last week we were down at Whitney Institute speaking to their 300 students about the walk,? she revealed.

?Berkeley were the winners of the walk last year and Whitney Institute won in 2002 so they are quite keen to get it back this year. It is promoting the elements of appreciating the aspects of charitable giving, a healthy lifestyle and the positive concept of teamwork... that?s what the Bank of Bermuda Foundation is trying to promote to the young people.

?They are the future of the event so we have to try to generate the interest now and in ten or 20 years from now they are still participating. It is one of those events that involves all elements of our diverse community... all ages, genders, races.

Mobility Ltd?s Marketing Projects Manager, Sharon Leman, has also been helping out as a Bermuda End-to-End committee member. Mobility will be responsible for the activities at the end of the walk at Dockyard.

?We?re so proud to be a sponsor, it is such a great charitable event,? she said.

?It allows you to reach the community on so many different levels because there are so many charities that benefit. This is our seventh year as a premier sponsor, we see the Bermuda End to End as the leader in the national effort to raise funds for charitable organisations.

?Our association with this event enables us as an organisation to give our support and commitment to the community in a big way. We?re really a very small company and to be able to maximise our assistance to the community through a sponsorship like this is just awesome. What we love about it, too, is it is such an all-embracing event.?

There will be additional entertainment at the finish line as the West End Development Corporation Boat and Leisure Show will be held on the same day in Dockyard along with Visitor Industry Partnerships?s activities.

The walk is beginning to attract participants from overseas with a group of travel writers from North America walking both the middle-to-end and end-to-end and providing, no doubt, publicity for the island.

One bride-to-be from the United States plans to participate by running the end to end and then getting married at 5 p.m.!

Upon conclusion, there?s a free ferry ride back to Hamilton for any participants showing an event registration number. Pledge sheets are available online and from Bank of Bermuda branches, Mobility, Sportseller and Sports Locker. There will be pre-registration at Bank of Bermuda at Albuoy?s Point tomorrow from 5.30 to 8 p.m.

On Saturday morning, bus service from Hamilton to St. George?s will be provided and tickets will be sold at the pre-registration.

6.30 a.m. Bus available from Hamilton Bus Terminal to St. George?s Town Square.

6.45 a.m. End-to-End walk/run registration begins in Town Square.

7.45 a.m. Opening Ceremonies for End-to-End, Town Square.

8.00 a.m. St. George?s walkers, runners start.

9.00 a.m. St George?s cyclists start.

9.30 a.m. Opening Ceremonies, Middle to End walk/run at Albuoy?s Point.

9.45 a.m. Middle to End walk/run registration begins.

10 a.m. Spanish Point Boat Club dive starts.

11 a.m. Shelly Bay Park kayaks, rowing start at Albuoy?s Point; Middle to End walkers/runners start; Bermuda College Middle to End cyclists start.

12 noon Spanish Point Park swimmers; Somerset Stroll, Sandy?s Boat Club; Spanish Point Park Middle to End kayak start.

12.30 p.m. Maritime Museum, Royal Naval Dockyard, Itsy Bitsy walk (for three to seven years accompanied by adult) starts.

The selected charities and their projects are: Big Brothers and Big Sisters? Communications Project for One-on-One relationships with children; Coalition for the Protection of Children?s Mediation Project and Bermuda End-to-End Railway Trail Initiative, a collaborative undertaking to improve the Trail (Park) in partnership with the Parks Department of the Ministry of the Environment.

Other charities are Neverland Foundation?s support for HIV positive children; Bermuda School of Music- music programmes for seniors, mentally and physically handicapped and Visitor Industry Partnership?s ?Revitalise the Bermuda Visitor Tourism Industry?.