9. Loch Lomond
28th/29th August 2010
The 21.6 mile Loch Lomond Championship organised by the British Long Distance Swimming Association
2010 saw many enquiries about the 21.6 mile event which eventually resulted
in 8 entries, two of whom did not swim due to injuries sustained between
entering and the day of the event.
As always the logistics of staging this event proved a challenge, particularly
with regard to escort boats and crews. There were three rescue boats on the
water all of which provided Safety back up to individual escorts and swimmers
for almost 24 hours.
The first swimmer to enter the water was Leslie DuCane at around 3-20 pm. A
2 pm start had been planned but various little problems prevented this. Leslie
is a determined breaststroke swimmer and the loch had got the better of him
on two previous occasions. A large number of the officials had stayed at Leslie’s
rather fine house on the outskirts of Glasgow the night before, where the hospitality
was most welcome.
Next into the water was Michelle Sharples at 5pm, a tough lady who had been
witnessed training hard all season, even swimming round the Derwentwater course
twice to get the miles in!
At 7pm we waved off Gez Lyon from Cumbria, who had not done as much swimming
as others, but had set himself a personal goal to swim Windermere and then
Loch Lomond.
At 8 pm Vanessa Hammond set off, having already travelled by train, bus and
boat, with her crew, to the start of the race. She had planned to do the course
in 12 hours, which was to be of significance later.
Last in, when darkness had almost taken over. were Darron Corden and Paul Higgins-Drysdale,
both of whom had swum the English Channel and are proven fast swimmers.
The land crew, complete with hired van to carry equipment and retiring swimmers,
then started its long night, following progress down the Loch. Four swimmers
retired during the hours of darkness, three cold and one injured, leaving Gez
and Vanessa in the water. As always the boat crews had as tough a time as the
swimmers, because returning a boat to Balmaha Boatyard in the middle of the
night is a daunting task, and negotiating to get someone else to do it for
you is just as difficult, as some found out!
The water temperature was estimated at a cool 12 degrees or less with an air
temperature of 5 or 6. The night was calm at the beginning of the swim, but
more typical wind and rain soon took over, although not as bad as the 2008
conditions.
As we all gathered on the beach at Drumkinnon Bay in Balloch there was much
discussion on the whereabouts of Vanessa, but eventually one of the rescue
boats located her quite a long way off course, being gently pushed toward the
river outlet in Balloch! After much battling across the wind and current she
eventually sprung out of the water in Drumkinnon Bay, praising her boat crew
and looking as if she had just swum across the bay! Her time for this impressive
swim - 12 hours and 8 minutes and 47 seconds. Not a bad estimate she had put
on her entry form!
There was not much enthusiasm for trying to cook breakfast in the wind and
rain, but an attempt was made. A lucky few got a bacon sandwich before the
weather got the better of us, and after that a generator and a kettle was all
we could manage.
By now those who had retired during the night and their crews were gathering
to see the finish in various conditions. Leslie had now stopped shivering and
had recovered most of his clothes, except footwear, something which didn’t
seem to bother him at all, even later as he began to consider how he was getting
home. Dan in the van eventually produced a pair of sandals to lend to Leslie
before he was deposited at a railway station in bare feet! Darron, also now
warmed up, was seen having his clothes peeled off by his boat crew in the car
park, and then scrubbed and scraped with fairy liquid in an effort to remove
the grease!
All this activity provided entertainment while we waited for Gez who seemed
to have been reported as “just off the golf course” for the last
2 hours. The swimmers had been told that if the yellow buoy was not in the
water at the finish, they could stop swimming when they could stand up. Gez
made the most of that instruction, and triumphantly lifted his arms above the
water to signify the end when a shorter man would have still been swimming!
His exit from the water was not quite so spritely as Vanessa’s, but still
a wonderful swim in 16 hours 31 minutes and 34 seconds, and an achievement
of his personal goal.
There are countless other tales that could be told about the weekend, but those who were there know them already, and those who were not do not need to know!
As mentioned previously there is tremendous
amount of effort, as with most swims, to make an event such as this happen,
but for everyone there it was very worthwhile effort to see another two
people conquer what is arguably the toughest inland swim in Britain, and
in many respects less achievable than the English Channel. There have now
been 46 successful attempts recorded by 38 swimmers since the first one
in 1959. Everyone there played a part in that success, both in boats and
on the land, so a big thank you must go to all of them.
For those who did not make it, the Loch will still be there in August 2012
when there will be another version of the night’s entertainment!
Janet Wilson,
Swim Secretary
To see Photographs of the event click on the PHOTOS button
