The postponement of the Great North Swim at Windermere caused some lateral thinking and use of recently-gained contacts and this allowed me to change the venue for my 1 mile swim. OK, so it would not be with many hundreds of others doing the same swim, but at least it would be with a goodly number of like-minded Open Water Swimmers. The venue, Dock 9 at Salford Quays, would not be quite as attractive as Windermere in the Lake District, but, had I opted to enter The Great Manchester Swim in late September, that would have been where I was swimming anyway. Uswim (http://www.uswimopenwater.com/ ) promote Open Water swimming and hold public sessions i.a. on Saturday mornings at Dock 9.
British Gas Message at: 18:00 Thursday 2 September 2010
British Gas Great North Swim Postponed
Unfortunately it has been necessary to postpone the British Gas Great North Swim, which was due to be staged on Saturday and Sunday September 4th and 5th at Windermere. This is due to prevalence of blue-green algae and the impact that this may have on your safety in the water.
This decision was taken by the Event Safety Group in the interests of safety of swimmers after further stringent water quality checks were completed.
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Great North Swim, 1 Mile on Windermere
in the English Lake District, Saturday, 4 September
I have not made a habit of doing Charity Events every year. Having completed my Quadrathlon last September in aid of Tessa’s Peru Trek and The Eve Appeal, I had no plans for anything at all this year. Then I heard about the Great North Swim in Windermere and thought that sounded like an interesting challenge sometime. I quickly set that idea aside for this year, as all places were taken up in the first days after applications were opened – 6000 people took part in 2009 over the two days of the event! But then our elder daughter came to the ‘rescue’ when she found she was able to offer me one of the places which had been allocated to the organisation she works for RLSS, The Royal Life Saving Society UK, which is one of the Supporting Charities of the Great Swim.
So, here I am, setting out my stall for 4 September and you can guess who I am supporting this time – yes, of course, it is RLSS! Will you help me, please, by sponsoring me for this Swim? I have a JustGiving web page again at …… or you (and others if you wish!) can send me a donation via the enclosed Sponsor Form – and do please remember Gift Aid.
The Royal Life Saving Society UK is a registered charity with a vision ‘To safeguard lives in, on and near water’, the governing body and leading provider of training and education in lifesaving, lifeguarding, water safety and life support skills in the UK. Each year over 10,000 volunteers train approximately 1 million people in water safety, rescue techniques and life support, including 95% of all pool and beach lifeguards. Go to http://www.lifesavers.org.uk/ to find out more. It could well have been an RLSS-qualified Instructor, who first taught me to swim at Marple Swimming Pool over 50 years ago and it was in all probability two of them, who came to my aid, when I collapsed with the initial effects of that Brain Haemorrhage in December 2003. I suspect I have a great deal to thank Royal Lifesavers for!
Right then, what exactly is the Challenge? Well, it is to swim 1 mile in Open Water conditions in Windermere, a fresh water lake. I have never before swum in proper open water, except on a number of occasions over a good number of years, when the children were much younger and we were on seaside holidays and I used to enjoy ploughing up and down in the waves, parallel with the beach, for 10 minutes or so. Not at all the same thing as a 1 mile swim, bearing in mind also that I will be wearing a full wetsuit, in which I have never even once tried to swim before.
OK, so I am a regular swimmer at Bollington Pool, near Macclesfield, where I swim 1000m twice a week in around 21 minutes. At that pace, I could expect to complete the 1 mile in around 40 minutes, BUT to contend with I have:
- the cold water and/or the wetsuit possibly/probably hampering my swimming style;
- the possibility the water will be choppy, which would:
o impede me, or at least slow down my progress,
o make me likely to swallow lake water (and make me cough & splutter, as I am not used to it?!);
- fellow competitors (there are no lanes and no walls – this is a totally different ball game!) and there could be some bumping and barging. Last year, in 5 starts over the Saturday & Sunday, they started 6000 swimmers – that’s 1200 at each start!
- tiredness, as I do not regularly swim more than 1000m. However, I did swim 2 miles as part of my Quadrathlon Weekend last September in an open-air (heated!) swimming pool in Hathersage, when my time was 1hr 17mins.
So, given all of the constraints, how far under 1 hour can I finish, is the question I am putting to myself. What do you think? What is that achievable. Am I deluding myself?
My place has been confirmed on Saturday 4 September. I have signed up – as an additional challenge – in the group expected to complete the 1 mile swim in 33-41 minutes; several years ago in Marple I used to complete 1500 metres in around 33 minutes. I expect to be around the tail end of that group, but that should provide the incentive to swim as hard as possible, shouldn’t it?
Check back after 4 September (or simply let me know you want to be kept informed) and you will find out! Wish me Luck!
Thanks for reading this and thanks, in anticipation, that you might wish to sponsor me!
All the Best
Chris Walters
