28th/29th June 2020 Nene Smarathon - Woodford To Wansford UK

The idea for the swim, like all of these things, was a throw away remark matched by throw away bravado. In the world of Covid 19 lock down, a race season with no races is a recipe for dumb challenges.

All swimming pools had shut down indefinitely so we embraced open water swimming as the only way to get wet and cold and call it training although we were not sure what we were training for.

The local tri club had a swim route on the local river Nene that they swam over the course of 3 months or so, roughly doing a 3km session each week, very sensible. A little rudimentary research and we had a route and a plan. We were acutely aware that we were not in the right physical condition to swim the 42km over two days so we did a couple of 6km swims as preparation....we remained hopelessly underprepared and hopelessly optimistic about our ability to complete the challenge.

We cobbled together a support crew on land and some canoes water based to keep us fed and motivated...what could possibly go wrong.

0900 treading water, posing for photos, brimming over with excitement only matched by our deluded confidence, after all, how hard could it be?

28th June Day 1 Woodford to Oundle 25km 7hrs 26mins

The four of us set off eager to crank out the kms and get to the first break for food at the hour mark. The time flew by and we were a little ahead of schedule. The picnic was all laid out for us when we pulled ourselves up the bank and out the water. Some craic, coffee and cake and we were back in the water 

By in large the day 1 went without a hitch, the weather was kind to us for the most part, all swimmers and crew were in good spirits, there was much hilarity, some surprise visits from friends en route, and we managed to avoid being attacked by the hundreds of Swans that we encountered.

 Just after the Oundle Mill I got a searing pain in my shoulder and it felt like a tear it was so sharp. I headed to the bank and just sat there for a minute or two to think what to do next. Ok, got it, swim one armed......nope that didn't work, plan B was to just kick but that was sooooo slow. Plan C just crack on and bear the pain.....ouch. Finally, take some salt as it could just be localised cramp. That got me back swimming with one and a half arms and there was only a 3km left of the session. 

After 7.5 hrs of swimming we reached Oundle Boat House, absolutely knackered and sore but elated at our achievement and super excited about the following day. 

29th June Day 2 Oundle to Wansford 18.7km 5hrs 49mins

We awoke to heavy grey skies, strong winds and a significant drop in temperature from the previous day. This was going to be a tough second day. 
Unfortunately it was going to get tougher for 2 of us. Over night it became apparent that Dylan and Zoe had picked up bad shoulder injuries on day 1 and to even start day 2 would mean months of rehab. So they did the hardest thing possible, stood on the bank, waved Dave and me off on the final leg. I didn't tell them I had been taking pain killers all night and it was touch and go whether I could carry on but with two out I was back in the water. I started to swim very conservatively and just figured I would take each km as it came and if the shoulder felt terminal then I would pull out. At best the shoulder was bearable and with the support crew and Dave out there I just had to harden up and get the job done.

The weather was a complete contrast to the first day, cold, strong westerly winds making the air temperature lower than the water temperature. The fatigue, pain and slow pace meant I ended up putting every layer I possibly could wear in the water and minimised the time on the bank, shivering cold. 

There was no show boating on day 2, just a dogged determination to finish what we had started. It wasn't fun, it wasn't great craic, it wasn't good training, it was just a mission to get to the end and call it a wrap.

We made it to the end and were taken aback by the number of friends that had turned up to cheer us in and share a drink and some celebratory cake. Note to self, don't be so dumb/arogant next time to think you can swim over 40km off pretty much no training....onwards