I LOVE OWS
YOUR STORIES
Every issue we ask you to tell us why you love open water swimming. This issue, Wyn Lloyd tells how, following a serious spinal injury, swimming has rescued him.
I’ve been lucky enough to do many things in my life, from rugby to kayaking, but a year ago my chances of even
walking again were doubtful. I ruptured a disk in my back, wrestling, and needed spinal surgery. Unfortunately, this didn’t go as well as planned, and I bled into the space around my spinal cord and was leſt paralysed from the waist down. Aſt er a second operation I was able to walk, but aſt er two months of physiotherapy, I was advised to stay away from contact sports and kayaking. I felt my identity had been ripped away from me, and I was truly devastated.
My surgeon suggested that I “try something like swimming”, and so my love aff air with open water swimming began. Having never really swum properly I booked into Ed Williams’ course at Cambridge Swimming Academy, where I was taught the ins and outs of front crawl. I spent the winter perfecting my technique and absorbing as much information as I could about swimming. Guided by Ed (and by the excellent Swim Smooth videos) I began to improve my stroke. Soon I was able to swim two miles, then three and then fi ve, in the pool. In April this year I took my fi rst dip into the chilly channel. The open water swimming community is surprisingly large, and aſt er telling a nurse at work I wanted to swim outdoors she put me in touch with a channel swimmer called Dibbo that she had coached. Dibbo met me in Weymouth, and in bright sun we entered the 10-degree sea with more than a few squeals. Just 40 minutes later I stumbled up the beach, to be hugged by men in speedos – not my most dignified hour. When I finally warmed up I was elated, and hooked.
In May I completed Exmouth’s Fairway swim and in June achieved my goal of swimming Llyn Tegid, in Bala. However, I was slightly overconfi dent and entered the two-way event rather than the one- way. Aſt er being ferried on a boat back from the far end of the lake I was leſt feeling like a failure. In any other sport I may have been treated as such, but people I’d
never met before fed me, told stories about times they had been dragged from the water, and emphasized that it’s bet er to get out before hypothermia strikes rather than forcing others to rescue you. They encouraged me to keep trying, and to come back again. The race organisers also buoyed me my emphasising that I‘d just
swam the length of Wales’ largest natural lake and that no one could take that away from me. Everyone seemed to have been there before and they all supported me. In September my friend Pete Bishop and I travelled Britain, to swim in Scotland and in the
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Wyn Lloyd was devastated when a spinal injury ended his sports-playing days – but then he discovered open water swimming, and has never looked back
Lake District – the cleanest water I’ve ever been in. We bagged a few lakes, slept rough and had a great lads’ trip. At the end of the trip I took some time to reflect on what I
loved about open water swimming, and concluded that it’s all about being in the water, the outdoors, it’s the camaraderie and it’s the challenge. Even the cold water – something I hated at times – turned to be something I loved. Dealing with the cold has been the hardest thing I’ve ever done, yet it has given me my greatest ever sense of achievement.
More than anything, I now have a sense of identity again: I am an open water swimmer. ○
SPONSORED BY:
Tell us why you OWS and win a set of Powerstroke Cords, courtesy of experts in
swimming, fi
t4swimming.com. Send 600 words and a photo of yourself to
info@h2openmagazine.com
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Illustration © Emily Davies 2011
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