Well what a great day that was!  My feeling of accomplishment was huge.  

I camped at the event the night before and as all campers will ask themselves, where does the time go in the morning?  Before I knew it, I was pushing my nerves to one side and hurrying down to the rendezvous point to meet the other competition winners.  

We walked the mile to the start point together, the five “girls that can” all doing our first open water event, and all sharing our concerns and allaying each other’s fears.  I was particularly anxious about the start of the race; not only was treading water for 5 minutes before starting a worry, but the thought of being amongst a mass of bodies all frantically powering forward at the sound of the claxon was terrifying. The start of the race was actually a short swim from where we entered the water. Again, this didn’t appeal to me at all in theory, but in reality it was a useful time to adjust to the water temperature and find your swimming stroke. The start of the race took me slightly by surprise as it came much sooner than I expected; there was no hanging around treading water after all.  Somehow, I had a space in front of me amidst the huge mix of swimmers and I was off.

I wear hearing aids and I’m very deaf without them.  You can’t swim with your hearing aids, and once you combine my hearing loss with wearing a swimming hat, it’s like being deprived of one your senses.  I would definitely be a victim in the “Jaws” film, the swimmer who  couldn’t hear everybody yelling “shark” from the shore!  Much to my surprise, however, I could hear the crowd cheering from the riverbank and the first few times I stopped swimming and looked round in astonishment.  Another time, I was waving so frantically to my family that the lifeguard in the kayak thought I needed assistance.  At that, I decided I needed to focus on swimming rather than enjoying the attention of the supporters!

During the last few minutes of the swim the river filled with weeds, and whilst you couldn’t feel them on your body, they looked absolutely enormous and triffid like, and there was a distinct possibility they were going to grab me round the middle at any moment.  Thankfully, this didn’t occur, and I finished the race almost without incident; at one point I was accidentally kicked, got a fright, and against all advice swallowed a mouthful of river water.  I am pleased to confirm that I have been absolutely fine and not suffered any form of poisoning as a result!

In training for and competing in the mile swim at the Henley Swim festival, I was forced to overcome something I have been genuinely afraid of for many years. Completing the event was hugely rewarding, and I feel like I have achieved something special to me. My thanks to This Girl Can for giving me the opportunity to participate in a new, welcoming and gratifying sport. I hope to come back next year!