Ricks winter Training for Channel double 2013

Work hard now, or pay the price later.. !!!

A normal sight for channel swimmers who have to do part , if not all their winter training
 in public swimming baths around the UK.. 

Hi Everyone..these are just some of Big Ricks swimming Sessions over the past 2 months as we make our very slow recovery back into hot and boring pool swimming training and racing after a summer of nothing but open water "heaven " , Ricks use 4 different swimming pools ( two 25m pools and one 33.83m pool and one 30m pool ) Our Open water training takes place at Swan Pool ( 800m lap approx ) from april to October  We hope they are of use to some on you who are maybe planning  to dip your toe into open water swimming in 2013 , Trust us when you do , you will never look back;-)..R x

Additional Equipment needed for these sessions...Fins,Paddles,Snorkel,T-shirt,Pull Buoy,Kick Board , Drag Trunks always.!! and more..

                                   

Big Ricks always start its blog with a tune , to get you in the mood as you read , and just because this is a training page , it should be no different..so what is the best song or theme to get you in the mood to train...You know it already...sorry ladies but it can only be Getting stronger from Rocky..!! a lads classic...simply click the the arrow in the picture above to hear the boys training classic  tune...and but the end on the song, u will be ready for 10k set or channel solo easy..lol ricks ( we do have to add, we think Rocky needs to work on his Bufferfly stroke , shocking springs to mind lol )

This video will help with those who do not know what Phelps Fly kick drill is.

I Wish I Was James Bond....!!

Ricks..
Wishing we were James Bond..just for a Day.!!!

Its been a great few weeks for the Ricks club..not only being lucky enough to be given some great praise by some amazing people but almost as good ,is we have been able to ditch the trunks and freezing cold lakes for Black tie dinners and warm indoor venues...!!! and if you wear a black tie..well come on ...we all feel like James bond don`t we....!!! ..so the weeks blog tune as u read has to be the great British band Scouting For Girls and their great song I wish I could Be James Bond.!! ( simply click the arrow in the picture to here the boys at their best.!!)

The Walsall  Mayor`s Civic Awards 2012 

pictured is Walsall,s  Sister Dora

  Dorothy Wyndlow Pattison

( In the autumn of 1864, Dora joined the Sisterhood of the Good Samaritans at Coatham, Middlesbrough and devoted her life to nursing. She was sent to work at Walsall’s hospital in Bridge Street and arrived in Walsall on 8 January 1865. The rest of her life was spent in Walsall and it was there that in local eyes she became to be compared with Florence Nightingale for outstanding service to people of walsall.  .)

Big Ricks Pictured before the awards dinner with our host for the evening
The BBC`S charming and  very entertaining  Dr Carl Chinn 

Big Ricks Basher..
Paul was awarded the Outstanding sporting achievement award.
which as normal he excepted not for himself but on behalf of everyone in Big Ricks Club 

Paul shared the award with walsall,s England's ladies football star Rachel Unitt
( Rachel has won over 100 caps for England , one of very players men or women to have done so..)

now...the best bit...Basher had to make a speech, we think he went whiter at the thought of doing it than he did when he was first up to start the channel 2 way in june...having said that...he did a pretty good of sounding posh and did an okay speech for a swimmer..;-) simply click on arrow in the picture above to hear Paul's few words about why there is a big ricks team..

and Finally...

 we have been very lucky in the past few weeks to receive some amazing awards for swimming , we are off course very proud and fell very lucky to have won them , but Ricks are not about the winning awards  , we are club of friends who want  help others though swimming, so when this picture came though this week to us  from Warren at The British Heart Foundation we could not believe it... .

  This is the Best award or news we could ever get . thanks to you and your support ..21 defibrillators have now been brought by the British Heart Foundation through your donations  , its simply Amazing ..Ricks x the Note from Warren..

Hi  Big Ricks swim  Team,
Thanks to your amazing fundraising, guys - 

Your 21st Portable defibrillator has been placed at the Walsall Gala Baths.

Pictured at The Gala Baths is Big Ricks good Friend Brian Pugh and Phil Jevon from Walsall Manor Hospital.
Kind Regards and thanks
Warren
BHF Fundraising Manager

And I wish I was James Bond,
 just for the day.
Kissing all the girls, blow the bad guys away.
Roger and Sean and Timmy and George and Daniel and Pierce and maybe one day Ricks 

Fireworks.....

Big Ricks at the
Open Water Swimming Wedding of the Year.
Mr & Mrs Super Redman Dyke

It’s almost time for the return of Big Ricks Swim Team..!! Yippee I hear you cry..;-)), but wait, before you get all excited and open a bottle or 2 of the fizzy stuff!  ,it`s not all good news  with the return of Big  Ricks, comes the return of our slightly informing and slightly amusing (we hope) Blogs about open water swimming (and the pool stuff)  in the UK.., you know those light hearted stories and tales of a group of old chubby  swimmers from the West Midlands who love all things swimming, the team that trains hard , the team that party`s harder N longer than most  , The team who always swim with a smile on their faces , The Team that always swims to help others..! Have u missed us..?? lol

Big Ricks at the
The Channel Swimming Association
Awards Dinner at Dover Town Hall 
 The Garnet Martin Cup for the 'Fastest Relay Team of the Year' Award..
and again with  The Stan Maycock Shield for the 'Fastest Mens Relay Team' 

 Plans are slowly being put place for next years swims....so bare with us , as it takes Ricks a while to plan anything these days , with us all  getting on in years , plus add to that all the swamp water from Swan pool we have collected between our ears over the summer .!!;-) ,  I mean  it takes  many texts ,emails ,phone calls just to arrange a training session , so you can  imagine what it takes to sort out an epic big swim.!! But much  more about our massive 2013 BIG swim in the coming weeks and months ...

Big Ricks at the
ASA Kellogg`s Swimtastic Awards
in Sheffield

This blog is mainly about wrapping up those loose ends of what has happened to Ricks since our 2012 channel swim back in June... or to put it a better we mean, The stag trip, The wedding (and yes we mean thee open water wedding of the yr, sorry Keri –Anne.! lol), The Awards and The presentation Dinners Ricks have been very lucky to attended in the past few months...;-)) as Pink once said let’s get this party started.....

Big Ricks  always starts its blogs with a tune, which we hope you do play them as you read along, if nothing else we do try and pick great songs...so if the blog is rubbish (like normal) at least you get to hear a great song for 3 or 4 minutes..;-), But what song to pick for Ricks celebration blog..Hmmm it can only be the beautiful Katy Perry and her fabulous song Firework... (Simply Click on the arrow above to hear Katy, turn it up loud ,  )

Mr & Mrs Super 

The Open water wedding of the year took place in September, it was between Bigs Ricks very own super swimmer Darran “ Super chest “ Dyke and the beautiful and charming Karen Redman ...the guys got married in Italy and then held a reception in Liverpool shortly after, both nights were amazing...Everyone in Big Ricks wishes Darran and Karen a lifetime full  happiness together .they really are a great couple...

The Ricks Open Water Crowd..
in Liverpool with Darran & Karen
Good Times  

Now let’s talk about Super`s stag weekend in Cork...!!! Hmmmm, on second thoughts we had best not..;-)) what goes on tour stays on tour and all that...lol 

The Stag Trip ...!!
the only safe picture we could find from our weekend jolly  to Cork.!!
can you believe we went to home of open water swimming , maybe in the world..!!,
 but never took our trunks 

Big Ricks Team with some Silver..
Rob " The Captain " Cash, Gary " The Edge " Edginton,  Duggie "The Gimp " Dugmore
 & Darren " Super Chest " Redman Dyke 

The Awards..!!! Big Ricks sadly missed the Channel Swimming Association dinner in 2011, but made sure some of the team along with our beautiful partners made the long round trip from the Midlands to Dover  Event this year... and we are so glad we did....it was an amazing evening from the team and everyone who had took part in channel swims in 2012, from solo to relay team ..To see and meet some of the most incredible open water swimmers from the past , and  the present day really was a humbling experience for us...Ricks are so proud to member's of The Channel Swimming Association, without whom Channel swimming would not exist .               

Big Ricks Table..

and yes, before you ask we are married ..;-)))

 but not for long if we do much more channel swimming

From L TO R

Mrs Captain Cash, Mr & Mrs Gimp, Mr & Mrs Edge ,Mr & Mrs Super Redman Dyke 

As you know, Ricks tried and failed to do a 2 way swim of the English channel in June , sure we were very close to completing it ( less than 1/2 mile) , but  many other swimmers have also come close, sure we felt wrongly  for while we had done it, as it was only very extreme weather that had stopped us from swimming into shore in Dover, but that's The Channel, That's the challenge , rules are rules , i mean if it was meant to be easy everyone would have done it, and not just the 50 or so teams in the world..!! as Captain Webb said..Nothing Great is Easy..and how right he was..;-)) The 2 way re match will just have wait for another day we hope..!!! ;-))),   

Rob and  Doug
all smiles with the The Garnet Martin Cup for the 'Fastest Relay Team of the Year' Award..
and again with  The Stan Maycock Shield for the 'Fastest Mens Relay Team' 2012.

But..because of our disappointed at the time we forget we did have reason to smile,  we had done a successful one way swim of the English Channel (sure that was not our Goal ) , buts it’s still something to be very proud of, it’s  something that not to many teams can claim to have done Twice ,..when CSA president  Micheal Read ( The Channel legend  with 32 solo crossing ) got up and  presented Ricks firstly with the The Garnet Martin Cup for the 'Fastest Relay Team of the Year' Award (1st awarded in 1965 )..and again with  The Stan Maycock Shield for the 'Fastest Mens Relay Team' we could not believe it .. we know its down to a lot of luck when it comes to crossing the channel in a fast time , and best times are really just for fun, no 2 swims are the same, no one swim is better than all rest we know that.., we are proud to have to names on the cup and shield , but also feel very lucky at the same time. 

Mrs Super Redman Dyke holding aloft
 The Garnet Martin Cup for the 'Fastest Relay Team of the Year'
which is very apt as Darran put in 4 great swims in the channel .;-)

ASA Kellogg`s Swimtasic Awards
Big Ricks were very Proud to have be put forward
for a Swimtastic award for the 2nd year 
 Whilst Britain basks in the glow of this summer’s success, the Olympic legacy continued at Sheffield  as our aquatic Olympians recognised the achievements of some of our inspirational unsung swimming heroes at the Kellogg’s ASA Swimtastic Awards 2012. ..The Kellogg’s Swimtastic Awards are organised by the ASA, the national governing body for swimming, and celebrate the achievements of swimmers of all ages and abilities from around the country. It truly was an amazing evening, to see what incredible things people do just because of their  love all things swimming ,it really does make you feel very humble and a very proud of our country ..;-) 

   

The Awards Dinner took place at Ponds Forge in Sheffield ,this is the picture of calm before the storm..

Big Ricks Table for night..
little did we know then, who our famous guest was going to be for the night .?

Ricks Table guest for the evening was the one and only
4 time Paralympic Gold medallist Ellie Simmonds
(Paul,Keil,Ellie and Doug)

Big Ricks Basher Bates,was the lucky one in the team,
as he got the pleasure of sitting next to Ellie all evening.
Ellie really is a true superstar of British swimming and British sport in general
she was so charming and funny, we were really lucky to be in her company for a few hrs 

Big ricks boys with the beautiful and delightful Hannah Miley.

( Hannah is the current European, Commonwealth and British 400m champion

 and 2 x Olympian ) 

Finally home...
as you can see Big Ricks have a new Member..Miss Simmonds..;-)

well that's just about it for 2012 , it has been a great year for so many many reasons ,first the best news,because of you and your support, this year we have managed to raise over £ 4000 for the British Heart Foundation and for Cancer Research UK  Fight to Beat Breast Cancer , we can never thank you enough for your generosity in such tough times in the UK , with the monies raised this year , it means since 2008 when Big Ricks was 1st set up with an crazy idea  of trying to help others by just swimming in open water , we raised well in excuse of £ 30,000 for the BHF & CR UK....Thank You. x

its not only been a great yr for big Ricks,  but a great year for our great country , Ricks have swam all over the UK and abroad , we have meet some amazing people , who have inspire us to continue swimming  for at least one more year.,.!! can you put with us for just one year..? we hope so....training will start next week... and details of what have planned for 2013 will hopefully be sorted by then 

once again we can never thank everyone eoungh for you  help , support , encouragement , friendship and love for the things we try to do, everyone is always welcome to come and join us anytime..catch you in few weeks , with our plans for 2013, with our crazy training session, we our crazy video`s of a fun group of  middle aged swimmers from the west midlands who swim for fun , swim to get fit, and swim to help others...

best wishes always ...

Big Ricks Swim Team . x  

finally our fave 2 picture of the year....

This is Dougie Doug..
this picture was taken on the worst day of year , it was our 2nd open swim of the year in early April at Swan pool in Birmingham , the weather was shocking,. blowing a gale ,rain , and very very cold,water temp was around 7 degrees , and it did not bother Doug at all...he got changed , and simply walked into the pool  like it was a beautiful summers day , and went on to swim for over an hour...the boy is a star.....

Ricks view of the English Channel 
at 4,30 am on a chilly Tuesday morning in June ;-)


Big Ricks Channel Swim Team 
Mission Impossible  III
  
WILL BE BACK AT A POOL,
LAKE AND SEA NEAR YOU VERY SOON...