As an
alternative I was
fortunate enough to be
able to enter the Great
Salford Swim which was
held a few weeks later
at Salford Quays on 26th
September 2010. This
would mean that my year
of training and my
fundraising efforts
would not go to waste
and I would be able to
achieve my goal of
swimming one mile in
open water whilst
raising money for CRY.
2010
was the first year of
the Great Salford Swim,
a new event in the Great
Swim series, and it was
a privilege to be a part
of what was a wonderful
day.
Thankfully the weather
was good, it was
probably one of the
better days we’ve had
this September and it
was perfect conditions
for open water swimming
(no blue-green algae in
sight!).
The
atmosphere at the event
was fantastic with large
crowds of supporters and
spectators cheering on
the swimmers throughout
the day.
My
race began at 1.00pm and
I had a target finish
time of 1 hour which I
am pleased to say I
smashed by finishing in
51 minutes 59 seconds.
It was a great end to
what has been a year of
training hard and
working towards
comfortably swimming the
one mile distance.
Next
year I intend to enter
both the Great North
Swim and the Great
Salford Swim. I loved
the Salford venue and
would like to swim there
again and I would like
to finish what I started
by swimming in
Windermere next year.
I
have fallen in love with
open water swimming and
now that I have a time
to beat I’m sure that
will keep me motivated
to train even harder for
next year’s events. I
would recommend open
water swimming to
anyone. The emotions you
experience when you’re
out in the elements are
incredible and the sense
of achievement you feel
at the finish is
amazing. It’s so much
better than swimming in
a pool full of chlorine!
At
the 11th hour a mystery
donor who attended the
recent CRY Test My Heart
screening in Durham
donated enough money to
enable me to exceed my
fundraising target of
£400. So far I have
raised over £400
for taking part in this
event and my Virgin
Money Giving page
-
http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/GreatCRYSwim
- will
be taking donations
until 30th November
2010.
A big
thank you to all of my
sponsors and to my
family and friends who
have supported me whilst
training for the event.
I would be interested to
hear from anyone who
would like to take part
in one of the Great
Swims in 2011.
Sarah Morgan
