I LOVE OWS
YOUR STORIES
Every issue we ask you, our readers, to tell us why you love open water swimming. This month Jo Stoller talks about competing, risking hypothermia and facing her fears...
My love affair started about eight years ago. I used to be a long-distance runner but I had to stop because of back problems. I’d been a club level swimmer at school – nothing spectacular and certainly no good in a sprint – so long-distance swimming challenges seemed like the perfect replacement. Sandown to Shanklin, a 1.75 mile swim round the Isle
of Wight, was one of the fi rst I did (in 2001) and that’s now become something of a favourite. I also swam at Bournemouth, did Brighton's Pier to Pier and an event up at Holme Pierrepoint in Nottingham. When I started I don’t think many people wore wetsuits;
I know I didn’t. Mostly I didn’t suffer from the cold but I remember one event – I think it was at Weymouth – when I was shaking so horribly at the end that I couldn’t even hold a mug of tea. I piled on tons of clothes but it still took forever to warm up. It defi nitely showed me you have to take the water temperature and the challenge seriously, but I guess that’s what makes it worthwhile.
When I got married and had children I stopped swimming for a while, although I did squeeze one event in between the pregnancies. I took it up again more seriously after my second child, in an attempt to restore my fi tness, and I joined the masters section at Teddington Swimming Club. We train on Saturday mornings at Hampton Pool, which
I love because it’s outside and it’s heated. I try to do one other pool-based training session each week. I don’t often train in open water because it’s difficult to arrange it around childcare. A lot of people at the club race at masters swimming events but I don’t feel any sense of achievement in swimming 50m as fast as I can (which isn’t that fast anyway). And you have to spend a load of time just waiting around. I did my fi rst wetsuit race last summer at Henley. I also raced in a wetsuit at the fi rst Nokia Thames Swim from Hampton Court to Kingston last year. It was a bit strange to actually sweat while swimming. I found the wetsuit a little restrictive to start with and it did change my stroke but it was fi ne after a few minutes. My experience at Weymouth frightened me a little. I guess I was close to hypothermia. It’s made me think twice about early season races when the water’s still cold. If a wetsuit means I can start the season sooner and stay in longer then I’m all in favour, although I’m just as happy to swim without when it’s warm enough.
66 Illustration © Emily Davies 2010
I WAS SHAKING SO HORRIBLY THAT I COULDN’T EVEN HOLD A MUG OF TEA
There are lots of things I love about open water swimming.
It’s cool, it’s different and there’s something a bit freaky about not knowing what’s underneath you. You feel a real sense of achievement once you’ve covered a long distance in the water. Every now and then you have a magic moment, like being in the water at Henley at sunrise. Unforgettable. I want to do as many events as possible in 2011: Sandown to Shanklin in August again defi nitely and I may try Brownsea Island, although – at 4.6 miles – it’s a long swim. I’m not interested in racing or going fast although I surprise myself sometimes. A couple of times I’ve fi nished in the top fi ve in my age group and I think I managed something like 80th overall out of more than 1,000 swimmers in the Nokia Thames Swim. But, still, for me it’s more about the challenge, doing the distance or completing the journey. ∆
Do you Open Water Swimming? Write to us and tell us why and you could see yourselves on these pages. Send 600 words and a photo of yourself to info@
h2openmagazine.com or our postal address (see page 3). Please include your name and address.
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