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| 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
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| 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' |
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| Big Ricks at the ASA Kellogg`s Swimtastic Awards in Sheffield |
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| 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...
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| The Ricks Open Water Crowd.. in Liverpool with Darran & Karen Good Times |
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| 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 |
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| Big Ricks Team with some Silver.. Rob " The Captain " Cash, Gary " The Edge " Edginton, Duggie "The Gimp " Dugmore & Darren " Super Chest " Redman Dyke |
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| 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
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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..!!! ;-))),
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| 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.
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| 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 .;-) |
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| 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 ..;-) |
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| The Awards Dinner took place at Ponds Forge in Sheffield ,this is the picture of calm before the storm.. |
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| Big Ricks Table for night.. little did we know then, who our famous guest was going to be for the night .? |
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| Ricks Table guest for the evening was the one and only 4 time Paralympic Gold medallist Ellie Simmonds (Paul,Keil,Ellie and Doug) |
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| 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 |
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Big ricks boys with the beautiful and delightful Hannah
Miley.
( Hannah is the current European, Commonwealth and British 400m champion
and 2 x Olympian )
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| 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....
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| 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..... |
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| 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... |
