River Arun - Littlehampton - Arundel, Brighton. 23 June 2012

I was really excited about this one.  Advertised as the second fastest river in the U.K. we were all guaranteed a personal best time.  12 Redcaps headed off for Littlehampton.  Some camped, some thrashed it out in a day. This was the first time I drove to an event, competed, and drove home again.  And hopefully, it will be the last time.  Far too tiring.

That said, it was a great day.  So nice being part of a huge team all cheering one another on.  My personal driver decided that he needed to practice his golf on this occasion.  Very inconvenient.  I won't be letting him do that again, so I had to drive.

With a car load of Redcaps we headed off at 10a.m.

This event was one of the best organised I have ever attended.  Run by Raw Energy Pursuits, the organisation was first class.  Registration took place without a hitch and then after a brief chat on how to get 400 swimmers to the other end of the river, 3 coaches appeared  and escorted us all to Littlehampton.

A quick change into our wetsuits and in single file, we were all lead across a footpath to reach the river.

A whole lot of giggling going on for some reason

With only two portaloo's for so many swimmers and spectators, the inevitable happened.  


Not mentioning any names for fear of repercusions, it was soon noticeable that a certain individual had a little trail of urine running from the bottom of her wetsuit legs.  Naturally this soon led to hysterics amongst the girls.  And how jealous of this particular person we all were that she had mastered the art of walking and wee'ing at the same time.  

Men in green and white are off with the pink women
soon on their trail

Coming round the first bend

Great finish when we hit the town.  Water was really fast here.

Zooming down the middle, very fast tide, great fun.

And its over.

The green and white hats (the men) were off.  The women (pink hats) had a short time slot to fit in with and hence we were being yelled at to get in the water quick by a very loud scary lady!   MOVE NOW - HURRY.  OMG, is this river really that fierce?

Anyway, once in, I had to turn the central heating on myself quick (take a pee for the less knowledgeable on open-water terms amongst us), and then get to the front of the pack.  It was a mass start so I did not want to be stuck at the back.

"Keep to the right of the river at all times please.   The safety crew need to zoom up and down the left.  And besides, the center of the river is very fast" !    HELLO!  I think in that case, I will swim up the centre of the river and take me chances with the kayaks.

And so I did, which is why I probably got such a great result.  15th overall out of 398 competitors and the 1st SuperVet over the line.  3.8k in 52mins.  The fastest the river has ever been swum in is 46.  Today it was won in 48.  So I am happy with this result.

Receiving my SuperVets trophy.

I found it a bit weird not knowing where I was going, other than - follow the river.  It was impossible to site anything as it was a case of just swim until you reach the mouth of the river and then take a sharp left or you will end up in the sea.


And, as for the results.  No sooner the last swimmer finished, the results were there.  You just tapped your race number into the computer and you got your own personal print out showing your time, category position and overall position. Fantastic.

Great race, great day, great friends, great laugh.

But, I really missed my driver coz I had to stay awake to drive all the way home again, which was not so much fun.