Urban crawl: going the distance at Dock2Dock

Rowan Clarke and Ella Foote took to London’s historic docks for an epic swim

How many of us are scared of the F-word?

Failure puts many of us off swim challenges. It certainly does me. But it was interviewing the inspiring Becca Mann (Issue 97) that convinced me to try the 5km Dock2Dock swim despite the distinct possibility that I might fail to complete it.

I tend to shy away from swimming out of my comfort zone because I’m scared of failing. I’d signed up to swim 5km in February, thinking that the goal would motivate me. But it hadn’t worked. My training was lacking, my shoulder sore and I was seriously considering my options.

One option would be to move to one of the Dock2Dock’s shorter distances. Expertly organised by NOWCA, this sell-out event has a choice in distances from 1.5km to an eye-watering 20km.

All distances benefit from a choice in mass or rolling starts, and incredible views of London’s ever-evolving docklands. The Dock2Dock swim is in its 10th year: a decade that’s seen its transformation from an industrial port into a vibrant district, where the docks are increasingly being used for water sports. Dropping down to 3km was very tempting.

New views

Another option was to not do the swim at all. But I love swimming in new places, and having worked here as a freelance writer for OK! Magazine 25 years ago, I decided that it would be fun to revisit the area in a way I’d never have dreamed of back then.

Used to swimming with sea views, or with peregrine falcons wheeling above the trees, I found the cityscape with aeroplanes coming into land at City Airport was novel and exciting. But what of the water quality?

If you look at a map, this stretch of water from Royal Victoria Dock to Royal Albert Dock is separated from the tidal river – almost like a huge lake with two inlets at the far eastern end.

With its Love Open Water Canary Wharf NOWCA monitors the water quality here all summer. In the run-up to the event, it reported excellent test results. The water was beautiful: 22°C, clean and brackish where fresh water and sea water mix.

Teamwork

Swimming with Ella was another reason to go for the 5km. So, with Becca’s words about learning from failure in my mind, it was time to swim.

After dinner at Royal Victoria Dock’s Heroica Lounge to carb-load on delicious stone baked pizzas and a good night’s sleep at the Ibis, we walked to the event village, marvelling at the length of just this small section of our swim.

Thanks to NOWCA’s thorough pre-event briefing, we found the event village and registered easily. That warm welcome from a smiling, helpful, encouraging crew is everything when you arrive nervous ahead of a big swim challenge.

Getting changed, Ella and I realised that we’d inadvertently chosen the same swimsuit. This portended well for the swim ahead, and, as we started the swim, we soon fell into sync with one another, matching speeds, heading under the first bridge towards Canary Wharf as a team.

A mind game

It’s strange what happens to your mind during a long swim. Time becomes elastic; you fall into an almost meditative state with very little sense of how long you’ve been swimming.

We found it helpful to break the swim into manageable chunks. We focused on the first feed station at 1.5km, where we got bananas, electrolytes and encouragement. Then, we focused on getting to the second feed station at 3km.

Kilometres three to four were the hardest. We had to pass the exit, swimming into a head wind towards the most eastern end of the dock. Again, we focused on the promise of bananas at the 4km feed station.

At last, we were on the home straight, and then we’d done it! That’s when the post-swim high kicked in – pure elation, pride, a little bit of disbelief and excited chatter about what challenge we might do next.

We enjoyed that high with live music, good food and the wonderful outdoor swimming community. I also got a blissful free massage from Aurea from The Massage Company Canning Town, which helped my shoulder recovery so much.

It turns out that Becca Mann was right: if I’d failed it would have been a learning experience, but if I’d never tried to push beyond my comfort zone, then I’d never had succeeded in swimming my furthest skins swim in an iconic location.

Fancy Dock2Dock next year? Register your interest at lovesportsevents.co.uk