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The Great Scottish Swim in August was cancelled due to blue green algae so we transferred to the Great Salford Swim in Manchester. This time there was no algae and the race was in fact held on Sunday 26th September 2010. 

The weather on the day of the swim was fine and sunny but the temperatures had dropped dramatically, with the water temperature at 14.5 degrees C, the coldest of all of the British Gas events. Despite this over 2000 people took part in this fantastic sporting occasion.

The Elite swimmers started the day putting us all to shame with times of between 16 to 19 minutes to complete the one mile open water course at Salford Quays in Manchester. Gemma & I had set ourselves a target of 45 minutes which I am proud to say Gemma broke handsomely by crossing the line in 35 minutes 38 seconds. I, on the other hand had trouble with the cold which affected my breathing whereby I could not get into a routine to maintain speed for any length of time. However I did complete the course in 46 minutes 32 seconds which positioned me at 1092^nd place  out of the 2000 swimmers, so didn’t do too badly. Gemma came in placed at 636^th. This being our first ever open water event it has now set the mark.

In the euphoria afterwards, we did say that we will try to do all 5 of the British Gas events next year, but we will need to give this some serious thought before committing. I for one, however, do want to improve on my time which I am sure I can do in warmer water!!

We would like to say a big thank you to everyone who has supported us with sponsorship. We hoped to raise £1,000 for Wessex Heartbeat at the start but with everyone’s generosity it looks like we will esceed £1,500 including the offline sponsorship; an overwhelming amount. It certainly was a great driver not to let anyone down when you are cold and want to give up half way round the course!!

Thanks again to everyone.

Tom & Gemma Noyce