Swim Smooth Episode 25 - Big Rick's Chicks Break English Channel World Record!

Swim Smooth Episode 25 - Big Rick's Chicks Break English Channel World Record!

We're back and pumped today with the achievements of Swim Smooth Manchester's 

Head Coach, Lucy Lloyd-Roach and her team of four female swimmers who on the 1st September broke the world record to be the first ever female English Channel Relay Team to swim across La Manche in full medley order - backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly and freestyle - with each team member having to complete 60 minutes of uninterrupted swimming on their given stroke.

Lucy swam the butterfly leg as British Master's butterfly champion, with 

Melanie Holland (a Triple Crown marathon swimmer and

4-way English Channel relay swimmer) doing the honours on the backstroke, 

Claire Thorne (multiple British Masters Champion) taking the breaststroke leg, 

and 

Sarah Hempenstall (Ironman and another British Masters Champion)

 rounding out the team with the freestyle.

The girls made it over to France in a stellar time of 12h17m and recount their training programs, experiences on the boat and their fund raising in honour of Surfers Against Sewage and also the Big Rick's team commemorating superstar marathon swimmer Mark Rickhuss who sadly passed away in 2005 at the age of just 41 from a heart attack whilst supporting another swimmer across the Channel.
Paul and Adam also discuss the latest developments at Swim Smooth, both locally and globally with our Certified Coaches, as well as the latest project the team has been working on to really enhance our online / remote coach offering.

click to listen to the ladies talk to paul newsome 

all about their record breaking swim  

 

( Many thanks to Paul and swimsmooth for speaking to the Ricks  Ladies 

click link to hear complete swimsmooth podcast )

https://player.fm/series/swim-smooth/episode-25-big-ricks-chicks-break-english-channel-world-record 

Ricks Ladies Set English Channel swimming World record

 

BIG RICK’S CHICKS 

COMPLETE MEDLEY RELAY ACROSS

 THE ENGLISH CHANNEL

A group of women from Big Rick’s Swim Team 

have successfully become the first all-female medley relay 

to cross the 21-mile English Channel

BY NICOLE MILLER 2 SWIMSWAM 

Europe, Industry, International, News, Open Water

A team of women from Big Rick’s Swim Team have successfully completed a medley relay across the English Channel.

By completing the 21 mile swim, the group known as “Big Rick’s Chicks” and composed of  Melanie Holland, Claire Thorn, Lucy Lloyd-Roach, and Sarah Hempenstall has become the first all-women’s medley relay to cross the channel. 

As previously reported, the team planned on crossing the channel rotating through the traditional medley relay order, with each swimmer in the water for an hour. With all swimmers going at the same pace, this would put each swimmer at a distance of swimming approximately 5.2 miles. 

The group began their attempt in England around 11 pm on August 31, going in the order: 

• Melanie Holland- Backstroke 
• Claire Thorn- Breaststroke
• Lucy Lloyd-Roach- Butterfly
• Sarah Hempenstall- Freestyle

12 hours and 17 minutes later, they landed in France. Due to the order of the relay, Holland ended up being the final leg, leading the team to  France just before noon on September 1. 

The swimmers completed the swim to raise money for Surfers Against Sewage, which aims to “inspire, unite and empower communities to take action to protect our oceans, beaches, waves and wildlife.” 

Big Rick’s Swim Team is a group of open water marathon swimmers formed in 2008 in memory of Mark Rickhuss. The group takes on long distance open water races and swims in order to raise money for charities and challenge themselves. 

( Many thanks to SWIMSWAM for following the Ricks Ladies link to story

 https://swimswam.com/big-ricks-chicks-complete-medley-relay-across-the-english-channel/

BIG RICK’S CHICKS COMPLETE MEDLEY RELAY ACROSS THE ENGLISH CHANNEL

 

MEET RICKS RECORD-BREAKING WOMEN 

WHO SWIM THE ENGLISH CHANNEL 

FOR A CLEANER OCEAN

watch the ladies in Action 

Melanie Holland, Claire Thorn, Lucy Lloyd-Roach, and Sarah Hempenstall are known as Big Rick’s Chicks, part of British swimming club Big Rick’s Swim Team.

 

The Four British women have successfully completed a medley relay across the English Channel, raising more than €2,000 for marine charity Surfers Against Sewage.

 

Their race, at the end of August, makes them the first-ever all-female team to swim a medley relay across the Channel.

Melanie Holland, Claire Thorn, Lucy Lloyd-Roach, and Sarah Hempenstall are known as Big Rick’s Chicks, part of British swimming club Big Rick’s Swim Team.

To qualify as a medley relay, they each had to swim a different stroke. They swam in 1-hour chunks and rested on a support boat in between swims.

The 34km swim took them 12 hours and 17 minutes, arriving in France just before noon on 1st of September.

( Many thanks to Eure News channel for following the Ricks Ladies )

 https://www.euronews.com/living/2020/09/13/meet-the-record-breaking-women-swimming-the-channel-for-cleaner-oceans

Big Ricks Chicks

The Ricks Ladies are Back ..
A little update from the chicks.
We are getting ready to take on our challenge!
Our window starts on 26th August 2020
this month......

Introducing Big Ricks Chicks 

Rick`s are so proud to announce our newest Channel swimming team 

  " The Big Ricks Chicks "..

Mel,Sarah, Claire & Lucy .

Ricks started English Channel swimming in 2011 

we've had 3 all men’s teams , 2  Mixed teams ..

And now an all Ladies team ...
we can tell you the Ladies team  is one special team .  

Meet the Big Ricks Chicks .  

Melanie 
Backstroke 
English Channel Solo 18 ,20
Catalina Channel Solo 19
Manhattan Island Solo 19
2 person channel Relay  17
4 way English channel Relay 18

Claire 
Breaststroke  
Multiply British Masters Champion
Seahorse 1st
Round Brownsea island  1st
River Waveney swim 1st
OSS Dart 1Ok  1st
2 way English channel relay
one way channel Relay 

Lucy 
Butterfly 
1,2 and 3 way English channel 
world record holder as part of the 
Andy Ladies channel team 
British masters champion 
Sarah 
Freestyle 
Iron Man 
Police English Channel Relay 
British masters champion 
2021 English channel solo  

Big Rick’s Chicks  is the sister team of 

Big Ricks Swim Team 

 its a group of 4 swimmers 

Melanie , Sarah , Claire and Lucy 

the team is based in United Kingdom 

Our Goal  to be the first ever all female relay team 

to swim a medley relay across the English Channel.

the Ladies in Action ..
perfect Medley formation  ..;-) 

We’ll be doing this in traditional medal relay order: backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly, and front crawl. 

Each swimmer will swim for an hour and we will keep rotating

until we make it to France!
Our team consists of 

Mel (backstroke), 

Claire (breaststroke),

 Lucy (fly) and 

Sarah (front crawl).

The Ladies Channel swim window 

opens in 26th August  2020.

The swim is in aid of Surfers Against Sewage. 

They are a UK based marine conservation and campaigning charity that aims to inspire, unite and empower communities to take action to protect our oceans, beaches, waves and wildlife.

If you have any pennies spare that you can donate, it will make a real difference to the charity and it will help give the girls a massive boost when the going gets tough.

https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/Team/BigRicksChicksEnglishChannelIMRelay

A Break In Training for the Ladies
Ask any channel swimmer ...
ice cream and Channel swimming are a partnership made in heaven .
.isn't that right Big Ricks Chicks
Big Rick’s Chick's Medley Channel Relay 2019 

get in there Mel.!!! 
Big Ricks Chick Melanie trying her 1st 
 Channel swim backstroke start  

 at swimmers beach in Dover 

with all the channel swimmers 

at Dover Channel Training

Mel..

Lucy , Claire and Mel 

Girl Power ..
to follow the Chicks Progress over the coming weeks
check out there Facebook page
Big Rick’s Chick's Medley Channel Relay 2019
https://www.facebook.com/BigRicksChicksMedley

The swim is in aid of Surfers Against Sewage. 

If you have any pennies spare that you can donate, it will make a real difference to the charity and it will help give the girls a massive boost when the going gets tough.

https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/Team/BigRicksChicksEnglishChannelIMRelay

The Chicks would like to say  a massive thank you to Head Swimming UK
for their amazing support  with the channel swim .
without it , the swim would have been even harder to get arrange .....

leaving no stone unturned ;-) 
the ladies having a cheeky practice ..
to see what it would feel like landing in France
 in August 
More Big Ricks Chicks Updates to Come...
Swim is planned 

2Swim4Life 2019

Ricks at 2Swim4life 2019
Basher , Mrs P , Madge , Tiptoes , The Boom , The Don and Sudo 

Full story from #2S4L 2019 to come....

its almost time to start this party 

9am..

lets get the swim started 

mile 1 , hour 1 done. 

10.20 

start of the 4 mile / 4th hour 

Ricks 2swim4life swim train 

is back and working beautifully 

6th mile / 6th hour

2.30 saturday afternoon 

7th Mile /7th Hour 2swim4life 19.. all going to plan so far ... Ricks and everyone in lane 1 in looking great ... no aches or pains yet....

8Hr / 8 Mile into the event ...

4.35 Saturday Afternoon at #2swim4life 19 the lane 1 swimmers all looking good.. Ricks swim train working well. water temp has been going up all day ..

now at its highest 24 degrees

6.45 early saturday night .. 

10th Hr / 10th Mile 

The sun is starting to set over the Lido ... its been a beautiful day so far ...

but already the air temp is getting chilly ... 

when the daylight goes , ,is when the #2Swim4Life really starts ..

12 hr / 12 miles done .. time for a pizza .!! 

Its 9.07 saturday night ... sun has long gone , 

but great news we have reached the halfway point ... !!!!!!!!!!

the guys have about 10 minutes to eat a couple of slices of pizza 

at best before getting ready to swim again ....

the 1st 12 miles have gone great ... 

a few aches and pains but nothing to serious... 

everyone who knows this event will say .. 

that swim doesn't start until you reach 12 miles / 12 hours ...

we are just swimming a mile at time and we are still smiling 

#2Swim4Life

10.30 saturday night ... 

the start of the 14th Mile / 14th hour at 2swim4life 19

all looking good in lane 1...

solo swimmers stu , ross , rachel and sarah ,, 

all swimming well .

all 3 relay   teams also swimming well .. 

and supporting the solo guys and girls . 

2Swim4Life

18th hour 18th Mile at 2swim4life 19 
2.50am sunday morning ...
air tmep bit chilly 6 ( felt colder )
water a lovely 23 degrees..
Big Ricks Swim Team

22nd hour / 22nd Mile at 2swim4life 19 
its 6.30am sunday morning ...
now been going for 22 hours ... 
we are going to make it.........
got a little chilly over night .. but the daylight is breaking 
and finish is in sight.....
2Swim4Life

23rd hour / 23rd Mile at 2swim4life 19 
its 7.30am sunday morning ...
now been going for 23 hours ... 
we are sooooooooooooo going to make it now... only one mile left after this.. 
2Swim4Life