Marathon and Swim

  On Sunday one of our members Laura competed in the Liverpool marathon to raise money for SMA a charity very close to her, after over 26 gruelling miles Laura completed the marathon in just over 5 hours, despite injuring her knee at the halfway point. We are delighted at her endeavour and perseverance in order to support a charity so close to her.

I competed in the Great North Swim on Sunday morning, with water temperatures at 15 degrees i knew this was going to be a challenge. After 200m of rigorous swimming I started questioning my motivation for signing up so enthusiastically. Men, women of all backgrounds powering through the lake to try to achieve a personal best. By halfway and after drifting off course quite considerably my muscles began to ache and i started to feel the strain . It was at this point, I remembered my brother had mentioned the lake being a mile deep and with visibility poor, the search and rescue teams would have there work cut out! Nevertheless i powered on,  the second half of the race provided a fair few challenges with a 7 foot swimmer deciding swimming over me was the best idea for overtaking. Also there were a fair few swimmers swimming virtually on my hip, which i now know to be a tactic called drafting. The feeling of powering through this great lake, and turning to breathe to catch a look at the supporting crowds and awesome valley is an experience I will never forget. The whole event was fantastically organised with celebrities and champion swimmers down competing and encouraging us all. I completed my race in 34 minutes.  Swimming has recently seen a massive incline nationally and remains the most popular participation sport. When you take part in an event so exhilarating it is not hard to see why.