You haven’t swum a lake until you have completed the full length of it. That’s the claim of Chillswim, a company specialising in open water, outdoor & wild swimming who are passionate about creating the world’s best open water events.
Paul Palmer, BSSC Masters swimmer and Olympic Silver medallist (400m freestyle, 1996 Atlanta) recently took part in the 10th Anniversary of the Aquasphere Chillswim Coniston End to End event in the Lake District and shared his experience with our swimmers.
During my competitive career, the thought of open water swimming never really crossed my mind – all focus was on the Olympic pool. Now that that is a distant memory, I was persuaded by some old swim mates to enter the Chillswim Lake Coniston event in June this year. It’s an 8.5km swim of the lake (5.25 miles in old money). An end-to-end swim in a glorious Lake District setting. 20+ years ago that would have taken me approx. 1 hour 30 mins. 20 years, however, is a long time, with a lot of puddings and pints consumed since. Nowadays, the odd masters session that I do sees me cover between 3-4km, so I was pretty daunted by having to do double that and not to have any turns to rest on. Anyway, in for a penny, in for a pound, so I lined up on the Saturday morning in my wetsuit and tow float and took to the water with 550 other hardy / deranged souls. The event was swam in waves, with the slower swimmers going first – the idea being that all would finish at roughly the same time. For me, this worked quite well as the competitor in me still quite enjoys overtaking other swimmers, so there was plenty of that to keep me going.
The event itself was, for me, a “race” in three parts: the first couple of miles were fine, although swimming in a straight line for 5+ miles makes you realise how far each half mile is. Buoys signified each half mile and it surprised me how long they took to arrive. Still whatever I was experiencing, I was pretty sure others would be as well, so all was good for the first bit. There were drink and feeding stations at certain intervals, which were important as drinking some water really helped, and the 30 second break was more than welcome to rest my shoulders. It’s not an event where you are ever out of breath, but turning your arms over without respite for that length of time takes its toll, so a few 30 second stops really helped.
After 2.5 miles I’d been swimming for about 55 minutes and was starting to feel it a bit as I entered the next phase. The wind picked up a bit and the water got choppier, which made keeping a smooth stroke more of a challenge. Hitting the 3 mile marker was a psychological win as it meant I was past the halfway mark. Plain sailing from here on, I thought… the trouble was, the next half-mile took forever. Arms were getting tired and the marker just didn’t seem to appear. I did get a bit worried – I was still overtaking people, but could also see a couple of other swimmers were tagging along with me, when I had initially pulled away from them at the start. The combo of swimmers keeping up with me and the 3.5 mile marker not appearing did not make me a happy chappy. Still, plug away, as they say. Eventually the marker turned up and disappointment turned to elation when I realised I’d somehow missed the 3.5 mile marker and I was now at the 4 mile marker. Knowing there was just over a mile to go, so 80% of the race was completed was a great feeling – it lifted me and helped spur me on (the mind is a curious thing!) and any previous internal grumblings about fatigue and aches evaporated.
The last mile was spent marking the two other swimmers and trying to get ahead of them, whilst continuing to overtake the slower swimmers that had started earlier. With about 500 metres to go, one of the rivals dropped away, so it became a head-to-head with the other swimmer. Even in wetsuits, goggles and caps, I could tell the swimmer was a lot younger than me (nice little excuse!) but it also became apparent that my rival was a female! This does matter to men – despite all the progress we have made with equality, being beaten by a girl is not something any male really wants to allow happen. That’s just how it is. Anyway, she was teak tough and would not be dropped. With 100 metres to go I could tell she was a lot fitter than me and no matter what I did, she responded. And then she eased ahead of me and that was that for I had nothing left to offer! Coming out of the water she was directly in front of me and then ran past an elderly gent that was also finishing and, to be honest, I mentally applauded her for, at that point, I was not for running to the finish line at all! She had been tracking me and I had been tracking her and she won out. That’s also how it is. Fair play to her competitiveness.
So, in the end, a second place was what I ended up with. Or so I thought… unbeknownst to me, right at the start another swimmer had set off at a much quicker pace and none of us ever saw him again. He finished 7 minutes quicker than me and was a comfortable victor. So third place for me and a time of 1 hour 55 mins. Would I do it again? Not sure – it was fun in parts, but I genuinely found it a long way. Maybe if there is a group to do it with I would consider, but only maybe. For those that are interested, there are plenty of similar swims throughout the summer months in every part of the country, so keep your eye out. It’s a really different experience to pool swimming and tests you in a different way and the settings are stunning. Definitely worth ticking the box – I’m just not sure if I need to tick it multiple times! Oh, and one final thought, there was lady who swam it who couldn’t do front crawl, so did the whole thing breaststroke. Took her over 4 hours, but she completed it. So there is no excuse for anyone who has concerns about finishing such an event – anyone can, it’s just how you do it and how long you’re prepared to swim for.
