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SWIM FOR CAKE

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PAUSE FOR THOUGHT

PAUSE FOR THOUGHT

Because Life Is All About Balance

Harriet Green

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I’ve always swum and always loved the water. There is something very special about swimming in the open water. It has certainly grown in popularity in the last few years, with good reason. There are also some incredible swimming challenges and it has been a dream of mine to one day swim solo across the English Channel. Despite its popularity and accessibility, it is still considered to be the ‘Everest of Swimming’ and one of the toughest swims to attempt. The first successful crossing was on 25th August 1875 by Matthew Webb, which took him 21 hours and 45 minutes. On 6th August 1926 Gertrude Ederle became the first woman to make the crossing, in 14 hours and 34 minutes. They are just two of many individuals from whom we can take great inspiration.

In 2020, when lockdown hit, life changed massively and people’s mental health suffered. I turned more to the open water as an escape and found it to be great therapy. After a few friends approached me to help them build their confidence in the sea, we formed a support group. We would get together weekly to swim, put the world to rights and eat cake – ‘Swim for Cake’ was born. People came and went and we all swam for different reasons but it was always a safe place for anyone wanting to join in - what is said at Swim for Cake club stays at Swim for Cake Club.

Sitting on the beach sometime in summer 2021 after a swim, while eating cake of course, I joked with Natalie, whom I have known for years, about doing an English Channel relay swim. The seed was sown though and the joke became an aspiration in January 2022 when we recruited 2 more swimmers. Billy, a Swim for Cake regular, and Ruth, a friend of Natalie’s from her cycling club, made the team up to 4. A determined bunch, we had booked our boat and pilot within 12 days and started planning. It felt like a long way away back then, but it has been a busy year with several major surgeries and injuries, including shoulder surgery and two hysterectomies, and we now find ourselves less than 6 months away.

We’ve all had medicals and have got lots of training ahead to work on technique, pace and stamina. The faster we swim, the less chance there is of being pushed off course by the tides, which change direction approximately every 6 hours. Historically, the water temperature for our crossing will be between 15°C to 18°C. Before the swim, we will each need to complete a qualifying swim in water 16°C or less for 1.5 hours, with a break of between 1 and 1.5 hours before another hour swim.

Our ‘swim window’ is 19th - 22nd July, on a spring tide, and we will be staying local to Dover so we are ready to go as soon as conditions permit. The boat will take us from Dover to near Shakespeare’s Cliff or Samphire Hoe for the start point where the first swimmer - excitingly, I got the team vote – swims to shore and waits for the start horn to sound. Then it is go-time, leaving England behind to start the epic challenge of a 22-mile swim to France. Wearing no more than a swimsuit, hat, goggles, ear plugs and a light during the dark, we will each swim for an hour at a time. While one is swimming, the other three will be on the boat cheering on, perhaps napping a bit, updating social media and most definitely eating cake, lots of cake. The actual swimming might be the easiest part though. There may be long periods of swimming in the dark, big waves and windy conditions to contend with, not to mention fighting seasickness on the boat. We will be relying on our boat pilot to keep us clear of the big ships. We may have to dodge jellyfish, and who knows what else, but there definitely won’t be any sharks…we hope! It will all be under scrutiny (perhaps not the cake-eating part) from an observer to ensure we are following the channel swimming rules, of which there are many. A beach landing in France would be amazing to mark the end of the crossing, but it could also be just the touch of a steep cliff before swimming back to the boat for the return to Dover – no time to stop and sample the local cuisine. givewheel.com/fundraising/418/swim-for-cake-channelrelay-challenge

This is such a big challenge, so as well as swimming for cake, we will be swimming for charity. We are supporting 3 amazing charities; Young Minds, Birth Trauma UK and 100 and First Foundation.

There will be live tracking available on the day and updates on our social media, so please find us on Facebook and Instagram to follow our progress, show some support and perhaps donate a few pennies to these very worthwhile causes.

Wish us luck!

Team Swim for Cake is Harriet - swimming instructor, open water coach and owner of Aquatic Harriet, Nataliealso a swimming instructor and open water coach, Billy - a forensic psychologist, and Ruth - who works in pastoral care in secondary schools.

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