UNITED BY THE WATER

UNITED BY THE WATER!

Word seems to be spreading of our little group and the wonderful waters of Ellerton Lake. Sarah Tunnicliffe became a firm friend after meeting her at various other swims. With her infectious smile and huge hugs she is a joy to be around and great fun to swim with.

I had been encouraging Sarah to come to Ellerton to swim with us for a while so I was immensely pleased when up on the internet popped ‘an event’. The Open Water Swim Society were coming up to join us. Yippee...this would be a huge boost to the group to see others swim and bestow their experiences and joys of open water swimming. Word soon spread of Sarah’s imminent arrival and before we knew it there were a ‘canny’ (northern term) number of people going to be joining us.

We also had some new people joining the group to train with us, and word seems to have spread out of the area as Jeni Orme from the Henley area had trekked up for a dip! Wow, I was so impressed that so many were making such an effort to join us.

Not the warmest of days to swim, but the brightness of everyone’s smiles and the chatter soon warmed us through.

Several keen people as you can see already had their wetsuits on (Pat Maycroft in the Orca suit by her husband in the blue and black top). Now let me tell you these OSS swimmers are hard core....no wetsuits unless it is vital to survival and no messing when it comes to getting in the water...they just jump straight in.

In the next picture you can tell from the pre- jump in body language that we were not feeling toasty warm!

The gasps when they surfaced told a tale in its self...but they were soon off and round the lake!

This left the rest of us shivering and eager (?) to get in. This time the plan was to assess the swimmers individually, give them drills and get them off doing distances.

Going ‘off track’ is not uncommon in open water swimming; after all you can’t see lines at the bottom of the pool. For some it’s sighting for others they have one are stronger in the water then the other and it does not necessarily correlate to the hand that you write with! After all I am left handed but my right arm is the strongest! So why don’t I go off line...well I do sometimes when I lose concentration but mostly because I have practiced drills time and time again! To prove the point to the swimmers and also get them to see that drills do work (even if they seem like hard work sometimes!!!) I got them individually to swim to the first buoy then on the return journey to close their eyes and swim back. Most moved to the right, with the exception of one...Kate Upshall Davis. Although I know I should not laugh, I couldn’t help it...the outward bound journey was fab, nice straight (ish) line, the return....she started well and then.....well let’s just say she started to go a complete circle..! She said she felt that she was swimming in a straight line and thankfully she saw the funny side of it. But what it proved was that they were not listening to their bodies so that they knew what they (the body) were doing in the water. Drills were duly given to help them strength the weaker arm and also to help them ‘uncross’ their arms as some were doing. Instruction was given as to the differences between open water and pool techniques. Off they went to try out the drills. Drills are hard to do, its abit like trying to undo the bad habits learnt in driving. Some of them go against your natural instincts whilst in the water. But they are the best way to condition your body into adapting to a different method of swimming and making sure that it responds when you need it to. The drills can be taken into the pool which is where most of us practice them but today was about identifying person specific drills, although most were practicing the same ones.

New people had joined us Tracey Mulryne and her husband Paul, with their children. Only a small amount of time in the water for them, as they were taking it in turns to children watch. Good to see them enjoying themselves...in later times the children get in with them and Tracey has an amazing video of them swimming with dad! With her permission I will attempt to load to onto the blog for you to see, its really is amazing!

Anyway I digress, with the group now aiming for two laps...it was time to get them to do it, for some it can have a massive mental impact to turn that final corner...and have to do the same thing again. Wetsuits although having the benefits of adding buoyancy and warmth can make you feel encumbered when swimming in them until you get used to them; Jackie Candlish in particular seemed to be struggling with her suit. So I made sure that for the second lap her and Dorothy were not on their own and swam between the pair. Both seemed wheezy in breath, this could be exertion or as it later it would be discovered exercise induced asthma. At the top of our second last Sarah and her group came to join us, worried...i asked her what do you think of the lake..after all I had been extolling its virtues to her for over a year. Yippee she loved it, Jeni could not believe the clarity and had managed to find all the boats...I informed her of the mini and like a seal she was off to find it. Success, the OSS liked the venue...that’s a big plus for me, introducing seasoned veterans to a new swim place...I hoped they would rejoin us another time...definitely Sarah informed me.

The second lap completed.. they were eager to do another, my sensible head kicked in, we had been in the water over the hour and the cold would have been seeping in...so no off to the showers we go. Pleased with the days progress, all quickly showered and changed...it was interesting to see how relaxed we were as a group...Kathryn Ayre frantically texting with just a towel round her waist....oh if only I had a camera...her blushes were spared as I didn’t and she gracefully took the ribbing we gave her before hastily dressing! I wondered if the men’s changing room was a fun as ours!

Wrapped up warm we joined the OSS team for cake and coffee, talk turned to Sarah’s impending Channel attempt. She regaled us of her training regime, there is nothing stopping this woman, awesome in the water and in love with it as much as it loves her...I can tell you she and her team were highly successful in their attempt... watched online by all of us had many in tears when she and the rest of the relay team touched the shores of France. Maybe the next challenge for her will be a two way swim!!!!  I felt it was inspiring to have this happy successful group swim with us, it really boosted the work they had put in and renewed the determination to succeed at the Great North.

Myself, I had plans buzzing round my head. There was an opportunity to race prior to the Great North, plus...starts and finishes needed to be practiced....would we have time to do a mock GNS, I had to try to factor it all in....would we do it – of course we would!