Henley 3k Race - August 2012

The most scariest of all my races so far !

The hottest of all days and a nice lift with the Edge family meant I could fully relax for this one.  Tony, Shaun. Vicky Alex and myself all representing the Redcaps.  

Me, Shivvers and Alex pre race

And we're off !

Just two laps of a marked out course and my life nearly came to an end half way through the second lap.  The Thames was extremely narrow at one point so the final turning buoy was in the centre of the river.  

An example of how the river narrowed at the top before curving round to the right.

You couldnt see this buoy until you were about 25metres from it as it was situated round a corner.  On approaching the corner, I could hear the sound of chains and engines getting louder and louder underwater.  At the point that it became deafening, I turned the corner, lifted my head and saw this barge below, coming straight towards me width-ways.  He had ignored all warnings of a race taking place and just in the nick of time, he put his breaks on and tried to turn.  I had whistles being blown at me from all angles to just swim, swim, swim back the other way.  As the race was nearing an end, the field had narrowed out so just my luck that I was the swimmer about to take the final turn.  I watched in horror as the barge took the buoy completed out!   All I could see was a huge amount of back-wash and waves churning up the water as he struggled to keep the barge under control.   How lucky was I ?

A more peaceful picture of the barge that almost wiped me out.  

Medal time - Champions.

Winners of the day.  Me, over 50 and Alex - very  much under 50 !

Vicky, Tony, Alex, Shivvers and me, post race.

Redcaps 15K Challenge 2012

Who's idea was it to attempt 15k on one tide as a charity challenge?    Doh, Mine. Dumb idea!

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED. 6 HOURS, 6 SWIMMERS, 1 TIDE IS DONE! 

Challengers and support swimmers waiting for the water to come in.

Quick natter on the best way to attempt this mad idea

Jane Bell kayaked for the whole 6 hours - Thank you Jane

My instruction box to the land crew - Says it all

Master of the tides, Mr Jacques opting for a banana to get him through the challenge.

Mmmmm, perhaps he should have opted for the Jelly Beans - looking a little worse for wear.

Kirsty Fehily and me - Glad its all over

                                                                                        

And finally, here is Jane Bells summary of the days events.

Lakeside 10k July 15th 2012

Another 10k just one week after Brighton.  This time, 13 laps of Alexandra lake, Lakeside, Thurrock.  A rather strange run-up to this event as I had originally entered it, then when discovering that SKS was going to be on this day, the organisers allowed me to move it to September 15.  Then when discovering an open water swim camp was taking place in September, I was allowed to move it back to July 15 as SKS was cancelled!!!!  Then I forgot to move Chris's entry back to July so by the time I finally turned up, I think the organisers were well and truly fed up with me.  Ironically, I won a wetsuit for entering it !

13 laps is a difficult one.  Swimming a 10k from A to B is not so bad - just 1 length.  But 13 laps!   Did become a bit boring and did need to pull on all my 'focusing techniques' to get me through it, but sort of enjoyed it in a strange sadistic kind of way!

On existing the water I learnt that Chris had won his age group 1500m so bloody well done Chris. x.

Two wins for me and Chris and a brand new wetsuit thrown in too, so what a result.

Brighton 10k Sea Swim - July 6, 7, 8 2012

Chris and I headed off for a long weekend in Brighton.  I was swimming in the 10k on the Friday afternoon and Chris in the 3k Saturday afternoon. 

The weather was absolutely horrendous.  Just one hour before my swim, I was standing at the registration tent in torrential rain which was coming down sideways due to the heavy wind and wondering why on earth I was about to swim 10k in the sea without a wetsuit !

 Once again, I had to call upon a favour from my dad and I prayed he would send me some decent weather for the next 3 hours.  If you are anything like me and believe there is someone watching over you at all times, then you will fully understand what happened next.  Just 20mins later there was a break in the clouds :)  Thankyou Thankyou Thankyou.  Yes, by the time the 10k started, we had clear blue skys, WOW - now that's spooky.

 Four laps of a 2.5k marked course and it was tough.  About 5k into the race, I had company.  A man and a woman pulled along side me and the next 1k made for a much more interesting race.  Us ladies managed to pull away from the man whoever he was and little did I know at this point that the lady I was battling it out with was going to give me so much grief at the end over the result.

   Sighting was impossible.  The wind had blown over the huge inflatable buoys so they were lying flat and with the brilliant sunshine reflecting on the water, the high waves made each sighting stroke impossible - just sea and more sea.

  I battled and raced with this lady to the bitter end.  Sometimes she stroked ahead, sometimes I did.

 On the last lap, I managed to 'ditch the bitch' - You'll understand later why I became a bit bitter towards her.  She pulled alongside me for the final 400meters and we both 'went for it' to the finishing line.  Only problem was, no one knew where the finishing line actually was.  Simon Murie, head of Swimtrek and organiser of the event made an announcement at the safety briefing that as the tide was constantly moving and as the waves were so strong, "we will decide when you are swimming where the finish line is".  No one questioned this at the time, because after a 10k swim, no one really thinks 2 swimmers are going to be neck and neck.

 As myself and my mystery lady eye-balled one another for the final strokes, we both stood up together and smiled at one another.  In knee deep water, we both took a moment to find our land legs and then admittedly, she exited the water before me and I eventually walked up the beach.

With no wetsuit for the past 2.5hours, I was suffering a bit from hypothermia, so at 7pm I decided to head back to the hotel.  The presentation was not till 9pm and I was in no fit state to hang around.

Saturday we headed off back to the beach for Chris's swim.  Sad faced and reluctant to get in that water, the picture says it all.  It was dreadful.  Wind, rain and cold but at least he was allowed to wear a wetsuit!  The red flag was flying and a decision was left to the very last minute whether to go ahead or not.

 Meanwhile I headed off to the results table to see where I came.  I was told that they gave the Gold to the other lady because she kicked up a right fuss insisting she was ahead of me.  Completely gobsmacked, I told the chap, she is welcome to it.  Bad sportswoman she is but if she needs it that much, she can have it.  I genuinely wasn't bothered at that particular moment, but the more I explained the story to my friends back home that she contested the decision, the more I came to realise that the result was not acceptable.  NO, she did not beat me, so NO, she ain't having the gold.  Thankfully, I received an email the following week stating that the organisers had awarded joint 1st place after carefully considering the finish.  Justice was served in the end.

 Back to Chris's event.  An impossible 'run-in' start as I doubt many swimmers would have made the first hurdle so it was decided that the safety crew would escort all the swimmers through the waves and once everyone was 'in', they would then sound the starter.

 The 3k was reduced to 2k for safety reasons and it was hilarious watching some swimmers take several attempts to get in.

 Chris had a spectacular exit from the water, having been rolled over several times and with 2 people attempting to help him stand up.

 hilarious, made me laugh anyway, but the picture I took of him when he finally made it to the beach has been deleted from the camera - coz its too funny !!!   Another bad Sport!

We had a fantastic weekend, albeit the weather made it a damp one.

June 30 2012 - The Great Pier Swim - Southend

The most talked about event of the year, mainly because this is on our home ground.  This is where The Chalkwell Redcaps Open Water Swimming Club do all their training so we were strong contenders for this event.  The weather was yet again, horrid but that would not deter the 50+ Redcap members from completing either the 3k race or the 3k challenge.  Challengers were allowed to wear a wetsuit, whilst the racers were not.  Hundreds of swimmers lined the beach at The Sea Life Centre in Southend, awaiting for the start which would see them finishing at Thorpe Bay Yacht Club.  It was a fantastic atmospher and for me, made all the enjoyable as I had both my boys there.  Incredibly as it may seem my 25 and 21 year old are capable of exiting their beds at 7a.m. in the morning to see what Mum does in her spare time!  Loved you being there boys, thankyou for your support and the incredible effort you made to drag yourselves out of bed. x.  I am sure that was more of a challenge than your mums 3k race which was just about to start!

It was lovely to see Phil Harper there too who had emailed me just that week to ask if I was doing the event as he would come down and say Hi.  Phil and I go back over 40 years!!!  I met him at Basildon Swimming Club when I was just 14 years old and we have trained together for many many years at Basildon and Rochford.  Over the last 10 years or so, we have gone our separate ways in our swimming, but have kept in touch via email and the odd dinner, so today it was great to see him on the beach (I will convert him from pool to sea one day).

And Brian Hammond, my old coach (old as in long time ago!), who always keeps up with his swimmers and supports them on local ground.  Great to see you Brian.

As the 'skins' made their way into the cold water, the challengers, all snug in their suits waited and watched as we went off.

The weather was atrocious.  windy, high waves and it made for a very very memorable swim.   I won the ladies over 50 and came about 9th (I think) overall.  Great fun.