How It Evolved

Stewart Rush had already raised thousands of pounds on his own through his 10 mile solo swim and as a forum (SwimClub.co.uk) of on-line swimmers, mainly Masters (over 25 – many very well over!), we had been following his progress. That’s already well documented (so I won’t swell his pride any further) and once over, Stewart was ready for the next challenge and he had the idea of a mile on the hour for 24 hours.

By chance, I had got my school reports finished early (a rare event) and emailed him saying I had a free half term week and would he like some help with admin stuff. Little did I know how it would develop!!

The first task assigned to me, was to come up with a name for it all – one ‘sleep’ and 56 ideas later and there was a clear winning title, but I let Stewart have the deciding vote; luckily it was a mutual choice decision, so '2Swim4Life' was born.

The next major hurdle was obtaining a venue. Stewart did all this on his own and having the gift of the gab, secured a super venue at High Wycombe and through their generosity obtained 2 lanes, with life-guards for 24 hours to allow the event to take place. The charity and all its’ supporters are indebted to the kind personnel at Wycombe Sports Centre, Marlow Hill.

On our swimmers forum, a post was thrown inviting everyone and anyone to get behind this and somehow enough crazy, super fit, wannnabe fit and elite swimmers did sign up for the challenge. Swimmers who chat on-line, have been cajoled, encouraged and nagged to join up – some being mad enough to attempt the 24 miles and others the 12 hours swim, because of work commitments or fitness reasons. Regardless, everyone taking part and many who would have loved to but are unable to for various reasons, are all 100% committed to the cause.

Anyone assertive enough to do this type of event, is assertive to try and change the format of the event…so… we had to lay down some rules. The event was always going to be:

Swim a mile on the hour, finish it and whatever is left is the ‘rest’ period (Ok to start with but after twelve…? Going gets tougher)
no swimming aids to assist – no paddles, fins, kickboards, buoyancy aids or any other hinted at aids
bar wetsuits clothing is free
you can eat, drink, sleep and whatever else you want/need to do
any stroke is permissible – any combination, speed and style.

Eventually, these rules were accepted.

As the challenge started to grow, we decided to secure our web domains. This was a real discerning moment – we really did feel it was happening; .com and .co.uk – wow, no going back now!! Can’t describe how that felt- elation comes closest I guess and yes, it does seem an irrational excitement now – but we were so whooping with pride. (ok – well we still, are if the truth be told).

Stewart and I decided to act as walking billboards at the June British Masters Swimming Championships in Manchester, seeing as I was swimming there anyway. We wore tee shirts with the '2Swim4Life' logo on the front and all printed details on the back, gently persuading fellow swimmers to join in the challenge and swim with us – or support in other ways.
Being impatient by nature, swimmers intending to take part, wanted to know what training they could do specifically for the event – so different was it to their usual competition workouts. As some swimmers were outdoor water distance specialists, other short pool sprinters and some keen non-competition keep-fitters, it presented another little challenge but was easily solved by the kind offer from Coventry Swimming Pool, - thank you Gary Titford. We are so grateful. The participants have travelled from all ends of the country to train in a central-ish place and willingly pay all their own expenses. The swimmers by the way, are coming from all over the uk and even flying in from Spain especially for the challenge – a testimony to their dedication.

Everyone is valued and we’d like to truly and publically thank you all.

All the swimmers have loved making a real difference to aid Action Duchenne and their quest to find a cure for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. The friendship that has bound all participants, is something that is very hard to put into words. It can be described as everyone knowing what their fellow swimmers went through, but in truth it was much more. If you also want to feel it.... sign up for 2009.

We aim to keep the event relatively manageable for 2009 (as in one location), although we would like to increase the number of participants if we can find a pool willing to donate the time, space and facilities that will allow us to. If any sports facilator is able to..please contact us and become involved. We will give you as much publicity as we are able to......and based on this year's experience, it covers wide geographical (UK and Spain) and multi-media areas.

Lesley Zimmerman