The water was COLD! I can't say that enough. I started off on someone's feet and felt like I was getting a good draft benefit. After the first turn I lost him, then picked him up again towards the end of the first lap. After that I seemed to be on my own for the rest of the swim. I think the field was fairly sparse because a lot of people had dropped to the mile option due to the temperature, so I didn't get the same benefit as last year's event where there were lots of people to draft.

The pace I set for myself felt nice and comfortable. I was breathing comfortably, and given the temperature I was concentrating on keeping it steady. I was fairly happy with how it felt, and thought I was coping ok. I just kept plugging away until I got to the last 500m or so, when I decided to work a little harder into the finish.

I felt strong finishing and swam as far into the shore as I could before I had to stand up and walk the rest of the way. At that point everything went a little wrong. My feet were really cold and the rocks really hurt. I fell over a couple of times and then made it out and over the mat. I felt pretty good about my swim until I looked at my time and realised it was 6 minutes slower than last year. At that point I was less impressed, but I think the cold may not have helped.

I could have tried a little harder with my drafting. There was a guy who seemed to be a good pace for me, but I lost him after the first lap. I'm fairly certain someone was drafting me, at least for the last lap, because they kept tapping my feet. That was kind of annoying...

The other restriction was the temperature, but obviously I had no control over that.

Kevin was waiting for me when I got out of the water and kept telling me to smile as he was taking photos. I told him I couldn't as I was too cold. The gravel was really hurting my freezing feet and I felt miserable. Kevin helped me out of my wetsuit and put his jacket on me as I'd stupidly left my dry clothes at the car. He also helped me get most of the gravel off my feet before putting my socks and shoes on. All in all he was lovely.

We walked back to the car and I put more clothes on, then went back into registration where we met some friends who were doing the mile (along with Kevin) and I had tea and flapjack to try to warm up. It took about an hour for me to get any feeling back in my feet, at which point I went for a run, and got back in time to see everyone coming out after the mile.


Mostly the cold. Not sure I could have done much about that. I'm not sure the effort level was enough, but at least I know I can manage the distance, even in tough conditions.


I did one of the Epic Swims last year, and was really impressed. This one was similarly good. They're really well organised, very friendly and affordable events. This event's theme was "Coniston Pirates" and most of the safety kayakers were dressed as pirates, which made me smile. Plus there's tea/coffee and flapjack at the end for a charity donation. What more could you want?

I also really appreciate that they have a 3.8k option. It's a great chance to practice the distance, but the other distances meant that we had some friends there for the day as well.