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| if only Signs could talk....!!! ""Come on...take on Me.....If You Dare.........!!!""
Finally after all our channel swims stuff 2013 has been sorted and put to bed can we do some swim reports from this summer , Ricks are not just channel swimmers , far from it...most of our swims are done at events all over England...the 1st one of year was the epic 2 swim4life event held at Guildford Lido...enjoy Ricks.
its 7.30am...on a beautiful sunny Friday morning
at Guildford Lido
you can see some of the tents that were put
up last evening in redness for today’s 2 swim4life ..but where are the swimmers..??
finally there is sign of life.!!!
its 8am..we have one hour ..to unpack , get ready , have a chat..
a loo break , make that 3 or 4 loo breaks before the 9am start..
the coffee and tea and hot chocolate are ready...
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| the Time Has Come to get this swim started..! its 9.am on 26th April 2013 at Guildford Lido.. and of 100+ solo & relay swimmers are about to undertake perhaps thee hardest sporting challenge in the UK..!! The "Swim4Life "challenge is to swim one mile every hour for the next 24 hours ...!! and just to make it extra hard it takes part in open air 50m lido in April ...   and the 10 second countdown is started..!! 24 miles in 24 hours... enjoy.!! |
This is the short Video of the Start of the 24hr event..,its worth checking out .
( just click on the arrow in the picture above ...if u dare...?.)
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| swimming god Oliver Wilkinson is pictured here on his 2 nd length of the 1st mile .. only another 768 to go................ |
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| Hour 2 Mile 2..@10.am The 1st drop of rain of the day is just about to hit us.. do we care Nooooo...!! |
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| the amazing Swim Buddies,Counters and supporters .. without these guys there would no be Swim they work tirelessly for the swimmers |
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| Mile 4, Hour 4..@12.00pm Ricks Basher jumping in along with all the other swimmers from the 2nd wave |
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| mile 6, hour 6 @ 2pm. the Lovely Chris Goddard all smiles having finishing yet another mile someone shouts ..quarter of it done Chris..!! and the smile shows his pleasure at hearing that news |
 it felt like Glastonbury without the music and mud.!!  |
| hour after hour the lifeguards keep watch.. they really did a superb job for 24 hours once again without these guys giving up their free time to help and look after us all, there would be No SWIM...! top effort  some of the best open water swimmer in the country were swimming and supporting others Paul swam 6 miles/hours in a 4 man team , but also worked as a counter and buddy when not swimming..Captain Slap as he fondly known was a star . |
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| 10th Mile , 10th hour ' 7.pm Ricks Basher along with a few others is starting to suffer big time.. getting cold in the Water , in Paul case he was not able to get warm quick enough in between swims ..with the cold comes the sickness ;-( |
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| 12th hour 12th mile @ 9.pm Sadly Ricks Paul crashed and burned at the beginning of the 12 hour, cold , sick , injured and exhausted Paul was advised by his great Swim Buddy Annabel that it would be foolish to carry on...a wise decision from Bel he has already said he learned a lot from the day , hopefully he will learn from his mistakes and plans to have another bash at it 2015.......! |
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| the 16th mile, the 16th hour @ 1.am and still they swim, many swimmers have withdrawn by 1.am but still many are swimming.. the warm steam of the water looks great , the problems come when you leave it , The air temp was dropping fast..4 degrees and dropping. the roles of the swimmers swim buddies are getting more and more important with ever passing hour |
Basher did a short Video as he left at 12.40 am...think you get the feeling from his comments just how tough a challenge he thought the "2swim4life" really is, maybe the toughest sporting Challenge in the Uk
( simple click on the arrow in the picture above to hear Paul`s comments )
1am...
another mile chalked off for the ladies
18th mile, 18th hour..
and still they swim
( simple click on the arrow in the picture above to hear Paul`s comments )
another mile chalked off for the ladies
and still they swim
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| 20th hour , 20th mile @ 4am.. and they still they swim..its maybe the worst of hours for the swimmers, as its hard see where you are swimming in the pool, light is at its darkest the air temp is at its coldest ..all the swimmers are starting to feel exhausted ,but also cold in and out ,but the finish is within sight...so no one wants to give in... incredible 
and still the swim buddies and supporters count , watch and support thier and other swimmers, @ 4am, at this time of night, even the buddies are working as a team ,sharing counting duties , why others getting hot drinks and hot water for soups , and hot water bottles for each of the swimmers , we cannot stress enough how much all the swimmers on the day appreciated there work and support without them No swimmers would not have been able to complete the swim..;-)
take a bow one and all  the heated tent was the place to be when the temperatures dropped in the wee small hours of the morning..  3 hours to go... |
 only one mile to do...  |
| the 24th mile the 24th hour...@ 8am this is it, they maybe exhausted and cold ... but they have almost made it , only another 32 lengths to complete 24 miles in 24 hours.... what an achievement....... we can not name everyone who swam on the day , everyone of you has big ricks admiration for just attempting this challenge let alone the ones among you to made the 24hrs... congratulation everyone. These are a few of the swimmers who are friends of Big Ricks  these guys are 2 of the best open water swimmers in the world.!! it was pleasure to watch Ned (Denison) & Rory (Fitzgerald ) swim in the half hour before i got in , one of my only regret of the day , was that i was not able to chat to the guys.. they are pictured shacking hands after both completed the challenge . and if that was not good enough both did the whole thing in skin only |
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| the Great Mark Sheridan . celebrating finishing the swim .what a swimmer this man is if you want a better report of the 2swim4life event check out Mark great blog http://reminiscencesofalongdistanceswimmer.blogspot.co.uk/ |
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| The Great Simon "Sumo " Jacob
24 miles done..!!
what a star Simon is... he has guts , talent , will power , determination and many many more qualities by the bucket load ... its was another great achievement, in his growing list of already amazing achievements .. Lord Sumo Big Ricks idol..
for more info on Simon achievement for the Cedar house support group
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| its Over only 2 tents left , with a couple of solo swimmers catching up there sleep..;-) the 2swim4life is a amazing event...yes its brutal , yes it will hurt in ways you never thought it would but being part of it was something really special , something not to be missed..the fun , the laughs . the tears.i for one can not wait for 2015..Best wishes Paul ..Big Ricks |
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| why did we put ourselves through all that..!! this i way..! Click on the arrow above to see and hear the memories of a great day |
Basher`s best (one of many) 2swim4life bit
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| Paul,s swim buddy Annabel made a one t-shirt in honour of the Day..;-) Basher,s worst bit .! |
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| Bahser,s wrist was touch a swollen & painful after the swim, but don`t worry his pride was hurting more ;-) Paul,s mile times....
1) 22.39
2)23.15 3)23.28 4)23.05 ( the great Paul Smith paced us on this mile ) 5)24.30 ( Kate was talking it easy on this one ) 6) 23.10 7)23.29 8)23.52 9)23.41 10)23.50 11) 24.30.....ish ( i was only thinking cold thoughts on this mile ) 12)...........................Crashed out.!!!! Game over...
Try again in 2015.....!!
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