Swimathon 5000 metre Littlehampton

The Swimathon is a national annual event held in swimming pools around the UK.

This was the best organized version that we had entered in the last few years and it was at our home pool Freedom Leisure in Littlehampton. The event has been going since before Steve and I got back into fitness twenty seven years ago. I think this was the 30 year anniversary. Over the years we have done this event at Christ’s Hospital leisure centre several times when Sally Webb-Potts was in charge, Newhaven, Waders at Shoreham, Park Centre Horsham, Worthing Aquarena and Billingshurst several times. The planning at Billingshurst was not the best and one year I was put in a lane with four fast men and ended the swim with a black eye and a grazed cheek. Their lane counting was questionable as well maybe the loud pop music and a bit of boogy-ing going that was going on on poolside there.

Today was much better and there were fewer swimmers, maybe something to do with it being at lunchtime on Sunday. The staff were very helpful and friendly and provided good lane counters and in the lane that David Mills and I were sharing, the young lady put a kick board in at the shallow end at every fifty lengths to help us. In Lane One there was Anthony Towers, Kevin Pearson and Steve Belt. There was one more lane where a lady we did not know previously was swimming on her own doing breast stroke for 2500 metres.

Todays times for 5000 mtrs were:

Anthony Towers 1.17.25

Kevin Pearson 1.21.44

David Mills 1.39.58

Steve Belt 1.41.41

Daf Belt 2.01.31

2500

Diane Daniels 1. 07

National results will not be up for a few days going by past experience but who knows.

Anthony Steve and I did this event in 1995 at Waders in Shoreham.

Twenty two years on all of the time should have been slower as we get older.

Steve and I both managed to have got gracefully slower as we aged but Anthony managed to be two and a half minutes faster!!!

1995 aged 30 Anthony swam 1. 20.04 and today swam 1.17.25 aged 51 against an age predicted time of 1.30..

1995 age 45 Steve swam 1.18.17 and today swam 1.41.41 aged 66 against an age predicted time of 1.34

1995 Daphne aged 56 swam 1.31.00 and today swam 2.01.31 against and age predicted time of 1.58 aged 77

I cannot speak for the guys but I thoroughly enjoyed my swim today in my new Michael Phelps goggles I think it is such a useful event because you so rarely get the chance to swim that distance without interruption otherwise which makes it well worthwhile.