In October, Assistant Head Coach Joe Collins accompanied BSSC Masters swimmer Rachael Hunt as she took on her Ultra marathon swim in Montenegro. Here, Joe shares the highlights from a gruelling four days of swimming.
Coach Joe’s commentary from Montenegro:
Rachael undertook Ultraswim 33.3 #5, Montenegro at the start of the month. The event usually consists of a number of swims across four days (4th to 8th October), that add up to 33.3km, but in this instance Rachael and Andy Donaldson, a world record holder, most notably the fastest athlete to complete the Oceans Seven marathon swim challenge, had been asked to take on ‘the Ultimate’ swim with them swimming a continuous 22.2 and 33.3km solo swim respectively.
Rachael completed all swims before her ultimate swim on day four, completing 28km over the three days before her ultimate 22.2.
The day of her ultimate swim we left the marina at 06:00 to arrive at our start point at the blue cave before jumping in at 06:42. Two hours (around 5km) into the swim Rachael crossed paths with the rest of the group finishing their total 33.3km swims, to huge applause.
Around six hours into the swim, Andy Donaldson caught up after starting 11.1km behind, fighting against a strong current that slowed both swimmers almost to a complete standstill. Rachael powered through and made her way across the channel, for the longest straight stretch of the swim, thankfully slightly current assisted this time.
In the last hour of the swim, Rachael’s son Max joined us in a kayak to offer much needed moral support. She came to the hotel beach finish point at 17:21, swimming for a total of 11 hours 39 mins, where she was greeted by many of the swimmers that had finished earlier in the day, as well as event staff, husband, James and Andy.
We got back to England a few days after on Thursday 10th October, and Rachael was back in the pool Friday morning at Grange Paddocks for our session back with the club, and with time for a proud coach photo opportunity.
I am incredibly proud of what Rachael has achieved and am honoured to have been able to witness such determination throughout the whole event.
