5 GREAT SWIMS

FIVE GREAT SWIMS

Ever since I started doing the great swims its been in the back of my head to do all 5, a variety of things have stopped me, mass participation events (not really a fan of the fight at the start), temperature, cost, and even the dreaded blue green algae poked its ugly nose in, you name it i came up with them all, after all doing all 5 is not such a big deal in the grand scheme of things but it was a commitment i was not sure i would be able to keep given the whole of excuses i could dream up not to do them.

My first every ' Great' swim was the Scottish, turning up with pre swim belly....you know what i mean..not relishing the thought of putting on a wetsuit in that weather, getting in the cold dark waters of Strathclyde....couldn't i think of anything better to do with my weekends...well i could but i certainly could not blog about them!!! Turning up for that first race i stopped along the shoreline to watch the other swimmers...and witnessed a woman going hell for leather...and getting nowhere, the wind was shall we say unkind, the current doing its best to throw her out, doing breast stroke she battled onwards but literally judging by the tree i was using as a sighting marker, making absolutley NO progress. What hope was there for me, my insides liquidising as i walked.....i needed the loo and fast! At near sobbing point in the ladies toilets i tried to calm myself down, after all this was far from my first time in open water, i could swim, i am competative, so what was the worry. Well aside from my then irrational fear of fish, swallowing diesal, and numerous others that my dreams had flooded my mind with (including swimming surrounded by dead goats....god knows where that one came from). A decent enough front crawler, would you believe, that by the half way mark i was mixing it up with breaststroke. Still calm but mentally berating myself....dam goggles, need ear plugs, must train harder. All sorts of thoughts flashing through my head, i could feel a right temper fit coming on, try as i might i could not get any speed in the water. Analysing it in calmer moments i realised that instead of just getting in and doing it, going for it and enjoying it, i had already predetermined it would be a bad one after all Scotland is notorious for its cold waters...did i shiver, not once!!!! The head had got the better of me, i was by no means last (40 mins) but i was furious with myself all the way home for the fact that i had let myself down. And so started a new process, get the mental aspect right

Having put in the training and commited financially i was all geared up for the 2010 greats...north, east, london, scotish and salford.Then every openwater swimmers nightmare happened.....the dreaded blue-green algae. The weather had provided the perfect conditions for growth....and grow it did, with not only the ' great swim series' having to cancel events but other race providers too. Disappointment was felt by thousands who had signed up.

Not to be too despondant there were plenty of other places to swim so with that in mind i set about attending those and also organising some myself! In total last year i managed over 160 swims. This years challenge being thorwted by 'germs' i now need to set another...how long could we prolong the season for! October and we were still in the water, the sun still belting down on us to the point that at Ellerton one sunny evening (2011) a group of us simply laid back in the water and relaxed...not really swimming i hear the cries...you should have been there, at one point i think Liz even fell asleep!

2011 popped up on the horizen and so did the 'Great swim series'.....surely they would all go ahead this year...please let them happen i said to myself....the organisers plotted and planned...and got it right, the water temperatures were a joy, and going to the different venues made it even more exciting, with London tempertures making it feel positively tropical. All too soon it was the final one...the Scottish...checking the internet before we set off...yipeeeeee. not a sign of cancellation. The weather was even being kind to us, sun shining all the way. Arriving at the venue my thoughts turned to my race here several years ago, was i as nervous...yes, was i intimidated...not this time. Did the water look inviting...no!

I was fine in the car on the way up to scotland, seeing Strathclyde park brought a wave of emotions, wow, this was the final race in the series, i was going to be able to do them all. Calm down i told myself, just relax and enjoy it. The i saw the ladies from ellerton that were also doing the race some of whom had the medals of competion round their necks...and instantly the tears came. This swim was an acheivement for me (doing all 5 great swims) but it suddenly dawned on me how far they had come as well, gone were the nerves, they stood there grinning in anticpation of the swim or of having done the swim, it really made me feel humble and proud to be apart of their journey with the open water.

The sun was shining, the venue great, my friends and fellow swimmers.....what more could you ask for! Having done so much swimming during the year in so many different locations its fantastic, you start to see people you have chatted to and raced with, its like a massive family converging for a get together. The social side of open water swimming means the we probably know more about our fellow swimmers than we do our work colleagues, after all we show our vulnerability, our fears, our laughs and our joy with people that we may only meet for an hour and not see again for months, but the same sense of acheivement and camorardory is strong. I do wonder if that is what is part of the draw of open water swimming. Most of these amazing people go on to be facebook friends and so the open water friendship continues.

Soon enough my swim wave came on, would the girls stay by the finish line and cheer me in as we had done with the others, i hoped so but did not want to ask. The emotions were starting to take hold again, what is it about the scottish swim that does that to me..answers on a post card please. Pretty soon the horn sounded and we were off, breaking away as i normally did i found myself a nice clear space in the water and soon had that lovely feeling of getting into the rythmn of the water as i passed swimmer after swimmer. Then at the second to last bouy a light bulb went off in my head...this is the last one - enjoy it, so i eased off the pace, only to find at the final bouy i was head to head with another swimmer, matched stroke for stroke!!! No way was i going to let this person beat me...i got him by a second! Turned and found out it was once of our ellerton swimmers! Did the girls stay and cheer me in...yes, i was over the moon. All five done just like that!! Even i could tell that my grin was massive!

So now I have done them, how do i feel, great, its an acheivement, and i am proud that i have done it, I enjoyed the Great series and hope that you will feel inspired to given them a go, one or all you will love them.  Whether its for charity or you own personal worth you could not want for a larger mass participation event where the choice of locations is brilliant (the Great East is my personal favourite) post your pictures or even write a blog and send it to me, i will add it for the world of swimmers to read, email me at pauline_squire@sky.com.