Embracing the challenges

“What if I’m too slow?” “What if I hate it?” Adaptive swimmer Sophie Etheridge explores the self doubts we all have entering our first swim events

Anyone that knows me, knows that I love open water swimming events – not just because I love swimming but because of the community, too. Since I got back into teaching and coaching swimming, I’ve realised that I would love events even more if some of ‘my’ swimmers were also taking part. The amount of joy and pride it gives me to watch people I have helped improve in swimming to complete an event, especially their first event, is immense.

Events aren’t without their challenges, though. For a lot of swimmers, it is fear that stops them from trying. Some of the most common questions I hear are: “What if I am too slow?”, “What happens if I forget the swim course?”, “What if I’m the only one in a wetsuit?” and “What happens if I’m last?” I’ve even been asked: “What if I hate it?”.

It has taught me that we all have our own fears and challenges, and by signing up to take on an open water swimming event it shows we are willing to embrace those fears. For me, most of the fears are around accessibility and if I will be able to get in and out of the water. As a result, when I have supported other people into events it has been important to remind myself that fears that may feel irrational and unimportant to me, are very, very real for others. I’ve learnt a huge part of people having a successful first swim event is often dealing with the psychological side of events, rather than the physicality.

My most recent event was at Burghley House in Stamford, only around an hour away from home and as a result, several people I knew were attending, including the two ladies in the picture with me. I did the event the last year and was aiming to finally swim 3km in under 1 hour. However, the accessibility is poor, and I ended up struggling to get out of the water. So by the time I was out it was 1 hour and 1 minute – I was gutted and annoyed!

I put it out of my mind and said I wouldn’t do the swim again due to accessibility. That was until two of our swimmers said they had booked their first event at Burghley. I was thrilled, but when they informed me they were also going to running their first 10km in the morning before doing their first 1.5km swim in the afternoon, I told them that they were nuts, but who doesn’t love a challenge?!

There were nerves on the day, accessibility was just as bad, but I turned up with a plan. Rather than struggling to get out quickly, I took my timing chip off and passed it to a volunteer who rushed it over the timing mat – 59 minutes and 59 seconds! Ashling and Wibkes first open water event went incredibly well, too. The best thing of all was that at the end of the day we all had a smile on our face and a medal around our necks.