Loch
Lomond 16th/17th August 2008
The
21.6 mile Loch Lomond Championship organised by the British Long
Distance Swimming Association
This was my first year running this Championship, although I have
had a fascination for the Loch since swimming it myself in 1984, and
have been at most of the Championships since then.
There was a total of 19 enquiries from possible entrants, but from
the beginning escort boats were an issue, as the boatyard at Balmaha
could only supply 5 boats with engines. Eventually there were 10 people
wishing to enter. 2 did not find boats, 2 found their own boats, and
one brought his own engine, leaving 5 others with the hired boats.
Eight names therefore went on the programme.
Arrangements made and risk assessment and safety audit done the only
thing left to do was get a weather forecast and travel the 200 miles
north to meet the swimmers and the rest of my helpers. I had three
different weather forecasts from different sources and we eventually
had several others promising wind from all directions, together with
the common denominator of rain and full cloud cover.
Of the eight swimmers on the programme seven entered the water at
Ardlui Beach. The water temperature was not officially measured, but
there was a general consensus that it was around 15 degrees C, and
the weather at the start was reasonable. Leslie DuCane was first to
go at 2pm, expecting to take 18 hours and swimming breaststroke. Next
went Tom Gunning at 4pm, at 57, one of the oldest to attempt the loch.
Robert Hodgson eventually started at 5pm, one hour later than planned,
due to his boat running out of fuel on the journey up from Balmaha.
At 6pm went Helen Sneddon, now accompanied by a little of the multidirectional
wind that was promised earlier. Liane Llewellyn departed at 8pm, escorted
by a palace of a boat compared to the other standard rowing boats.
Finally at 9pm Dee Llewellyn, the current record holder, and Rebecca
Lewis, a record contender, entered the water.
A small band of helpers and spectators then took sustenance in the
Ardlui Hotel before following the swimmers as they made progress down
the loch. The first hint of adverse weather was when we heard on our
radios that the Rescue Boat, crewed by Matthew and Laura, had hit rough
water near Tarbet, and they needed a change of clothing. Disbelieving
of this tale of bad weather the land crew set off for Tarbet, to find
waves crashing over the pier and a swell that would make any Channel
swimmer feel at home. Carl and Pam were already there, complete with
yellow flashing light on top of their van, a welcome beacon in the
night for passing ships and swimmers. Tarbet saw the retirement from
the event of Rebecca, Helen and later Dee after varying times in the
water. As organiser of the event I was quite sure that if the weather
had shown such hostile characteristics at Ardlui, I would not have
wanted swimmers to enter the water.
Leslie and Tom, our early starters were still battling on some 10-12
hours after they started, but realistically their chances of finishing
in such bad conditions were diminishing. Onward to Luss, where the
wind had abated a little, but rain had taken over. Time for a snooze
for the land crew, but not for long as radios and mobile phones were
quite active tracking our remaining 4 swimmers, particularly Tom, whose
position was reported as Inverbeg for about 4 hours! Liane and her
accompanying Galleon were seen speeding past the pier at Luss, followed
a little later by Robert. Leslie decided to retire at around 4am, followed
a little later by Tom, a valiant effort by both. Carl’s van provided
welcome warmth and sustenance. With only two swimmers left in the water,
the land crew moved on to Drumkinnon Bay, the finish of the race.
Liane Llewellyn of Halifax Swimming Club was the first to finish in
a time of 12hours 15 minutes and 55 seconds. She was greeted on the
beach by her sister Dee, who had retired from the race earlier. Accustomed
to being beaten by her sister, she had assumed that the same had happened
on this occasion, not that Dee had been asleep for several hours! There
then followed several hours of breakfast, snoozing and telling tales
of the night, whilst we waited for Robert Hodgson of Troutbeck Swimming
Club to finish. He eventually appeared at Drumkinnon Bay 17hours 46
minutes and 50 seconds after he started, another impressive swim.
It had indeed been a hard swim with our two successful swimmers very
deserving of a place in the list of those to complete our longest inland
swim. There are only 44 successful attempts recorded by 35 people,
Liane being one of those to complete it more than once. Those present
thought there may be one or two more successful attempts, so if anyone
reading this, who saw the list, thinks they have other names, please
let our Hon. Recorder know.
As always when swimmers succeed, particularly in difficult conditions,
there is a list of people to thank, without whom they would not have
succeeded. In addition to the individual boat crews, Matthew Thomas
and Laura Shackleton patrolled the Loch for 22 hours with only occasional
short breaks ashore. Eight others performed the variety of jobs required
to make the event run smoothly from allocating boats starting at 9am
on Saturday to making sure all the boats wee back again by about 2
pm on Sunday. The same people also briefed crew and swimmers, saw swimmers
off from Ardlui, followed them down the loch, tracked their progress
by radio and phone, received retired swimmers and boat crews, made
hot drinks, provided transport, explained to the locals what we were
doing, and cooked breakfast next morning. To all of these people I
would like to say thank you and I hope you will all be back again,
as I will, to support the event in 2010 when it is next run.
Janet Wilson
Swim Secretary
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