Friday, September 06, 2013
After the swim
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| A view over the course. Could you imagine a nicer place to swim? |
This time a fortnight ago, I was feeling nervous
excitement about finally plunging into the cold waters of Loch Lomond to swim a
mile.
The swim is now done and feeling pretty pleased with how
I did. Of 906 swimmers in the 1 mile
race, I came in 128th with a time of 31min and 28sec. I had hoped to complete the course in 40
minutes at best, so much better than
expected.
The initial melee into the loch was a bit
frightening, to be honest. Scrambling into freezing water with so many
other people, a trashing jumble of limbs and neoprene made me feel a bit
panicky. Luckily by the first buoy, the
course opened up a bit and I was able to get into a pattern with my
stroke. Open water swimming is an
exhilarating experience and a mile looks a lot longer when not swimming in a 25m
pool. Surrounded by mountains and
feeling the swell of deep open water easily lift my body no matter how quickly
I swam, quickly gave a sense of perspective.
It was brilliant to see my teammates Brian, Christine,
Andrew, Faegheh as I approached the finish line. Much more welcome than the swan that ran into
me as I tried to sprint to the finish!
Probably the best thing was getting a 'high five' from Niamh upon finishing. There was also few
others from Bishopbriggs Community Church who did the swim -- Alasdair, Debbie, and Aileen. The only downside to the day was that Shane was a bit poorly so Emma had to stay at home with him.
I was taking part in a documentary for Channel 4, who
were doing a feature on the Great Scottish Swim and why people were taking
part. The director took an interest in
the St Rollox destitution programme, so it will be good to see the project
getting a bit of positive press.
Amusingly, the filming team missed my impressive (although impeded by a
swan) sprint finish, so I had to get back into the water so they could get my 'finish'
on film.
Of course, as much as I enjoyed the experience, it wasn't
about me or the swim. The point of doing
this was to raise money for the St Rollox destitution programme. The giving and generosity of people was
beyond my expectations. It was humbling
to receive so much support from people all over the world, some who I've never
met.
My target was to raise £1,000, which would keep the programme
running for about a year. As you can see
from the image I've posted from my JustGiving page below, that target was well
smashed and means that we have confidence that we can continue our support for
the next couple of years. I cannot thank
everybody enough!
I'm already looking foward to my next outdoor swim --
especially that Brian and Andrew have said they're going to do the swim with
me. A least that's what they said two
weeks ago -- and I'm going to hold them to that ;-)
Some more pictures from the swim:
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| The Bishopbriggs Community Church swimmers |
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| Stumbling out of the loch, in a post-swan collision daze. |
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| Intense pre-swim preparations (and trouble getting my swim cap on) |
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| An encouraging sign. What every swimmer wants to see before entering the loch... |
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| The 'elite' male swimmers. Exciting to have shared the loch with some Olympians and world champs -- Alex Studzinski, Chad Ho, Christian Reicher, Robbie
Renwick Keri-Anne Payne,
and Hannah Miley to name a few. |
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Thanks for the comments on the swim Paul, I wish I could have been there to root you on! It's a blessing to see how God provides to those most in need! All our love! (Dad & Mom).
