Hundreds of swimmers in luminous swimming caps could be seen bobbing along the Marlow stretch of the Thames this weekend during the annual marathon swim.

A total of 508 people took to the water at Henley Bridge on Sunday morning and swam a mammoth 14 kilometres along the river towards Higginson Park for the 12th annual Bridge to Bridge swim.

This year, to accommodate its growing success, the finish line was moved to Higginson Park after the number of swimmers outgrew the previous end point at the Marlow Rowing Club.

And organisers of the marathon sportive – known formerly as the Henley Swim - are celebrating another successful year, after receiving a raft of positive feedback on social media sites.

Event manager, Annette Young, said: “Absolutely it was a great day. We have had so much good feedback it has been quite amazing which you can see on the Facebook page, probably the best feedback we have ever had.

“We finished in Higginson Park this year and changed it slightly so we had a bit of an events area where the swimmers could have some food and drink when they finished.”

Although there were complaints following the swim about over flowing bins in Higginson Park, Ms Young insisted action had been taken to ensure all the event litter had been cleaned up.

She continued: “All of our caterers took away their rubbish away with them and we checked before we left to make sure everything we had left was cleared away and bagged up.

“It was very busy and even after we left there were a lot of people there so I am not surprised there was a lot of rubbish around.

“We are really pleased to hold it in Marlow as it is such a lovely area. It is a great event and we want to see it continue to grow with the support of the council and town and we will take any feedback concerning the litter seriously.”

Sam Crabtree was the first to finish after 2 hours, 41 minutes and 16 seconds, and Annie Wilson was the first woman across the finish line after 2 hours, 43 minutes and 15 seconds.

Although organisers say the event is treated strictly as a sportive rather than a race, due to a number of locks along the course forcing swimmers to exit the water and walk around.