It is done
11 September 2016
On Saturday, the day before the swim it did not stop raining, the trip to register was as wet as the swim was going to be. What that meant was that the Lake was filling up with rain run-off and would increase the level of the lake and thus increase the flow out of the lake therefore currents, also the temperature of the lake was dropping and was now 17.9 degrees. We picked up the swim cap, timing chip and kayak essentials of whistle and safety gear for Wayne to carry. We had to return later to collect, set-up and secure the kayak for the night. We also had to find a place to sleep as we could not leave the camp site until 7am, my start time was 6:55am on Sunday morning. We parked up at Storrs Hall for the night, from where we would be picked up in the morning at 5:00am.
I had a surprisingly good sleep, it stopped raining some time during the night. The alarm went off at 4:15am, managed to eat some breakfast and made up my PURE that I would use during the event. We had 1.5 litres of PURE and the same of water along with some gels and a bar. We arrived at the start point, it was still pitch black dark, and however the paths were lit up with glow sticks which create a bit of an eerie feeling. We got set up and my family arrived, Leeanna (my Daughter) stayed with us that night, my Mother, sisters Jaki and Isabel, brother, Stuart and his wife Sue, and nieces Rebecca and Samantha and brother-in-law Raymond; that was particularly nice for me. While we waited for the briefing I remembered it was Wayne’s Birthday and wished him a happy birthday, he reminded me that all he wanted was for me to finish and not say I have had enough or that I wanted to get out until it was done.
Briefing arrived, there were groups of 20 swimmers for each briefing with each swimmer due to start a minute apart. We started in order of our number, resulting from estimated time, I was number 82. We were each called up and our kayaker was positioned at the side, Wayne came up and I was allowed to enter the water, the timing chip was activated as I went over the mat. We were off, I had trouble getting my googles on to start with, maybe nerves and excitement, Wayne claimed me down told me I had plenty of time and to slow down a bit, I dived in, the water felt a nice temperature, the sky was cloudy and didn’t look like the sun would shine all day. My first strokes told me that I was fine, eventually though my cap rode up and soon I had to stop and try to get it back on. That failed and after about 3 minutes decided to take it off, we had another cap that I had used for the LA swim, so swapped it before it caused me any more upset. I did throw my cloth cap too far and Wayne had some problems retrieving it.
The first hour seemed to slip by quickly, I had decided not to wear my watch, Wayne had it and it was connected to my phone for live tracking so friends back home could follow my progress, this was a good decision as time went on as I was not distracted by the distance done or time taken, I could just focus on swimming. We had decided I would feed after an hour then every 30 minutes, Wayne would hold my bottle up when it was time to feed, I would tell him what I wanted on the next stop. My first feed was 250 ml of PURE (100% real freeze dried fruit, carbohydrates and electrolytes).
It was nice as the dawn changed into daylight and the scenery slipping past, buildings and trees down to the edge of the lake. The water was mostly flat with a small chop form time to time, Wayne tried to guide me toward the edge of the lake to get out of the current due to the run off from the rain, the lake flowed out from the point we started. Also the breeze lifted a little and abnormally was blowing across and into us, while it was light it caused a small chop to develop on the surface and did slow things down a bit, I had started out doing 2.5kph for the first hour then seemed to slow to 2.2 kph from then on with small variations along the way. The speed appears to have been impacted by the breeze, however toward the end I was doing 2.1 kph.
After more feed stops every 30 mins I could see Storrs Hall Temple come into sight, about then I could hear a rumble noise and a Lancaster Bomber did a fly over at low level, an impressive sight!! We pulled into the compulsory stop at Storrs Hall after 3:11 and saw my family all there cheering us along. I felt in really good spirits at this time and was all smiles, no cramps or niggles so far. I tried a bit of a bar but had too much and couldn’t sallow it so spat it out, had some PURE, pulled my cap back on properly and set off. We had gone on a cruise on Friday and it had seemed a long way down the lake, so I had completed it better than I thought I would. We continued along with Wayne trying to guide me to the cross over point and me heading off across the lake a little early. As we neared the other side he called be back out, we were headed toward a very shallow part of the lake, others were in there but Wayne kept me out, I learned again the value of good guidance as I passed a number of other swimmers at this point. We had to wait briefly for the ferry to cross ahead of us so I had a feed a few minutes early. The ferry passed and we then continued to the Island part of the lake.
This are is very picturesque area, although also the busiest area on the lake, with the boat wakes increasing and a bit later water skiers around causing more chop and waves. During this part of the swim I was with Andrew Laird, someone I had got to know through Facebook. He and Wayne had a wee chat and introduced themselves, he wished me luck and Wayne gave him some ncouragement. We had been about 6 miles (9.6km) at this point, so I was about to enter the part of the swim that all the training had been for, the last 6km. I was feeling good and my 10km time was 4:19, a bit slower than I had wanted, it turns out time were about 30 minutes down on last year so that was good, I was still feeling strong and my stroke was holding together and my 500 meter splits were consistent.
The next km was OK then it got tough for some reason, the wakes from the skiers had an effect and we hit a patch that was not protected from the gentle breeze that was blowing into my face. I kept looking for the finish, Wayne told me that it was around the next corner, he also told Andrew there was a couple of miles to go, he didn’t tell me that, that was about 1 hour 45 minutes swimming at the pace I was going. On reflection I am glad he didn’t tell me that. He suggested I try to catch a woman in a wet suit who had been just ahead of me for the last 4 hours, so I put my head down and put in the hard work, one stroke at a time. A couple more feed stops and then he told me my sister Jaki was on the shore, so I stopped and wave to her and knew the finish was not far away.
I could see building I recognised from Ambleside at the top end of Windermere, then I could see the red Zone3 buoy that mark the turn into the finish. Before I got to this point I had thought about the people who had contributed to this day through support and the kind and generous donations made to the NZ Heart Foundation, also PURE Sports Nutrition who had given me a significant discount on product to help me with the training and events, Jason (Triathletes Corner in St Heliers) who gave me support and discounts on products, my swimming buddies for their support and swimming with me in my build-up especially Margaret Henley who kept me honest on Saturday mornings with my long swims, Roger Soulsby who was always keen for a dip in the sea and Hana Wolzak and Phillip Rush who inspired and encourage me over the years.
As I came to the finish another non-wetsuit swimmer came along side and raced me into the finish, I picked up the pace a little and felt so pleased with myself, all the 5am mornings and going for a swim even when I was tired or grumpy was now worth it. I came into the finish and was offered a hand out, but had to go over to Wayne and thank him and give him a kiss, I know he would have loved to have swum alongside me, but he wasn’t able to, his support, help and guidance was invaluable and without him I doubt I would have had the confidence to do it.
