Updated on Sep 23rd 2011 at 11:05 AM from the JustGiving API

A big thank you to Dave and Gav for giving up their Friday night beer and crisp money for the pandas!

Updated on Sep 22nd 2011 at 3:35 PM from the JustGiving API

There's less than 3 days to go til my final swim of the season at Dorney Lake - I really need the help of every friend and acquaintance to help push my fundraising total higher towards £1k. Still a ways to go!

Updated on Sep 9th 2011 at 9:30 AM from the JustGiving API

Henley-on-Thames 1500m and WWF Blue Mile complete - had a great time at both and big thanks to my folks for supporting me at both! Times were 27.40 and 29.25 - that's a new PB! Just Dorney Lake to go in 2 Weeks; can I sub-30min every event?!

Updated on Aug 25th 2011 at 2:31 PM from the JustGiving API

Thanks to the currents and tides at Worthing my official Birdman 2k time was 29.17! Just over a week to go till the Henley and WWF swims - please let's crank that sponsor total up people! Oh, and I appear to have a couple of groupies at the local pool now - 2 old dears told me I have a lovely smooth swimming style :)

Updated on Jul 2nd 2011 at 10:37 PM from the JustGiving API

Well that's the last of the Great Swims for this year and I completed them all under 30mins! Official London time was 29.52 after a balmy 17c mile swim. Next up is the Birdman swim at Worthing mid Aug.

Updated on Jul 2nd 2011 at 10:00 AM from the JustGiving API

T-minus 4.5 hrs til the London swim - keep your fingers crossed people!

Updated on Jun 30th 2011 at 3:57 PM from the JustGiving API

Just 2 days to go til the London Swim and the water temp is 16.5 :) All your donations really do spur me along to better my times!

Updated on Jun 19th 2011 at 3:02 PM from the JustGiving API

Had a great time at the Great North Swim - official finish time of 29.49, 6 seconds faster than Salford! Only 2 weeks to go til the Great London Swim - 3 for 3?!

Updated on Jun 18th 2011 at 8:14 PM from the JustGiving API

All set up in Ambleside for the Great North Swim tomorrow!! I'll be splashing about in Lake Windermere at 1pm :)

Updated on Jun 17th 2011 at 10:56 AM from the JustGiving API

Yet another event added!! Probably the most meaningful one too - the WWF Blue Mile swim on 4th Sept. Check www.wwf.org.uk/bluemile for more info.

Updated on Jun 17th 2011 at 10:54 AM from the JustGiving API

Thanks to all who've donated so far, myself and WWF really appreciate it! Still plenty of swims to go this year and plenty more time to donate if you haven't :)

Updated on May 15th 2011 at 5:05 PM from the JustGiving API

Well the first result is in! My previous Salford time was 34min 36sec - today I blasted that with a 29min 55 sec! Ooo, just inside my 30min target! :) Looks like I might need to raise the bar for Windermere! Thanks for all your support so far! xxx

Updated on May 9th 2011 at 9:56 AM from the JustGiving API

Great Salford Swim live on BBC2 this Sunday from 2 - 3.30pm. I swim at 3.20, so you might just catch me warming up! (which I'll need to do as current water temp is 13.6c!)

Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

 

First a bit of background...

 

I've become somewhat of a keen swimmer!  I first got roped into doing the Great North Swim in 2009, through which a few colleagues and I raised over £1k for Marie Curie.  I'd only ever swam breaststroke up to that point in my life and managed a respectable 38mins 45 secs for the mile.  At the end of 2009 I decided to set the challenge of teaching myself how to swim front crawl, so in Jan 2010 that's exactly what I started doing.  My first open water attempt was at the Great London Swim 2010, at which I managed 36mins 26secs.  Then it was on to the Great Salford Swim 2010, where brought it down to 34mins 36secs.

 

And now here we are in 2011 and I've been continuing to train hard for this year's events.  My goal is to get a sub-30mins time by the end of the year.  And here's the list of where I'm hoping to do it!

 

15th May - Great Salford Swim (1 mile)

 

19th June - Great North Swim (1 mile)

 

2nd July - Great London Swim (1 mile)

 

14th August - International Birdman Swim (2km sea swim)

 

3rd September - Thames River Swim, Henley on Thames (1.5km)

 

4th September - WWF Blue Mile Swim, North London (1 mile)

 

25th September - RNLI Swim, Dorney Lake (1 mile)

 

I thought that as I have so many races this year I'd set this page up to try and raise some donations for one of my favourite charities - the World Wildlife Fund.  In case you don't know, they do a lot of great work in helping support the environment and endangered species.  In their words: "We are here to stop the degradation of the planet's natural environment and to build a future in which humans live in harmony with nature".  In supporting them I hope to help them continue doing this vital work.  And I hope you'll help them too!  Here's a link to their website if you want to know more: http://www.wwf.org.uk

 

Finally a bit about JustGiving:

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

 

Thanks for looking and hopefully, for your donation!

 

Nicky

P.S.  You can now follow my story on my new blog:  NickyBuoy