Great Scottish Swim

Saturday 29th August 2015 (1099)

An early start as we left our hotel in Arrochar and drove back to Balloch for the start of the swim. At 8.50am the car park was already closed and we were directed to park on the road a short walk away. We walked to the start and watched the green wave set off on their 2 mile swim, then it was time for me to change. 

My pink wave started the acclimatisation at 10am. One swimmer even caught a fish in his hand in that short time! At 10.30am we were off for our one mile swim. The water was 15 degress but felt a lot colder. It was very crowded at first, not like Salford, but soon spread out. I decided to take it easy at first to get used to the water as I did at the quays. I thought if I swam breast stroke gently to the end of the Maid of the Loch steamer I would then get in to my front crawl stroke. However, it was quite different to swimming in the quays. The water was dark, the wind was up and creating a cross current and waves. It was hard work. I soon fell to the back of the section. 

By a quarter of a mile I was really struggling with the strong current, I couldn't breathe very well and was finding it difficult to do crawl. I thought I was going to have to quit and be rescued. One of the safety kayaks drew near to me to check I was ok. Grant offered me a rest holding on to the kayak ... unfortunately he declined my encouragement to paddle and drag me along ... laughed and said something about cheating! After a few moments to get my breathing under control I set off again but I was struggling and didn't think I would make it. Grant stayed by me all the way to the finish line, offering encouragement along the way, he became my best friend! He was actually the back marker for the pink section and I was way further back than everyone else. It was really hard going but I persevered with his encouragement. 

When the faster swimmers of the yellow wave started to overtake me one or two shouted encouragement to me. It was so good to reach the half way marker and turn and get the finish line in view. I was swimming slow and predominantly breast stroke, which is very unusual for me. I kept on having little conversations with Grant as though we were out for a stroll, it made it bearable. Finally, as we approached the more sheltered area of the finish I was able to put a little spurt on. I gave Grant a thankyou handshake before I finished.     

2700 took part altogether - some did half a mile, some did 2  miles and some did 5K! 

My results:-
Finish time 1hr 37mins 45sec
I was 1014th in the one mile category (don't know out of how many, I wasn't the slowest as someone took 2hrs 1 min, and a handfull took longer than me) 
Age and gender category (45-49) 66th
Age category (45-49) 125th
Gender category 579th

After a quick change and bite to eat we set off on the 4hr drive home. Thankfuly it was a nice easy drive and we got home early evening. Part 1 of the holiday complete. I am on duty tomorrow morning then part 2 starts.  

More photos of the swim on Flickr. 

Mum has posted a picture of me with both my Great Swim medals!