Fifty, fuelled and finally across the finish line

After turning 50, taking a month off from training and questioning whether she could swim two miles, ZONE3 winner Miaya finally made it to the Swim Serpentine start line – with a little help from the open water swimming community

In the past month, I have celebrated turning 50, had laser eye surgery, been on holiday to Nepal, and journeyed on my first-ever cruise around the Norwegian Fjords. So many things, but swimming?! The panic started to set in.

I arranged a community get-together at Quayswim for others who were also signed up to Swim Serpentine, and started a WhatsApp group, connecting 33 members. This has been alongside being part of Swimmerbolts – a London/Hampshire-based mixed open water swimming group.

My swim training: transitioning to front crawl in open water

I have found the community of open water swimmers so generous and friendly. From questions about gear to pre-event nerves, no question has been too big or too small. In fact, I discovered wetsuit shampoo through the group!

My training continued, also being motivated by others posting their progress. It is nice to feel you are not alone, even though I was going solo. The nerves started setting in, especially with a month-long break in my training (you can’t really swim for a while after laser eye surgery).

I started rebuilding my swimming stamina and exploring fuelling. This helped me massively, especially after a 1,000m loop around the lake, when I felt so exhausted – I swear it isn’t because of my age!

Anyway, I sort of gave up on front crawl, as I realised it was optimistic to expect that I could do this for two miles when I was already behind on training. So I continued training with breaststroke, which I found a lot more sustainable.

D-day arrived. I was in the 9.20am, two-mile wave, which is quite early, but I saw lots of people with Swim Serpentine bags too, which was reassuring. As I walked across the bridge to the Serpentine, the buoys looked really far away, and I started to feel the nerves setting in.

I got changed and walked to the start line. I could see a flood of blue caps, and I realised it finally was time to go.

Ready, set, swim!

I stayed near the back, as I am a slower swimmer. I launched slowly into the water and soon warmed up. I kept to the left to avoid getting swum over and blocking the way for the faster swimmers, who swam closer to the buoys.

I could hear cheers from the crowds on the sides as I made my way around. After I completed a one-mile loop, I took a carbohydrate gel. At this point, I really wanted to check my Garmin smartwatch and see if I was going too slowly, but I stopped myself from doing it, just in case I got demotivated. I was already starting to feel really tired.

I could see red caps ready to launch, so I kept moving, avoiding their launch path. I continued on my second-mile loop around the Serpentine and calmly started to recall my memories of the journey, and how far I had come to swim alone.

The people who had helped and supported me along the way – Outdoor Swimmer, Zone3, Swimmerbolts, Nice1 Wetsuit & Coaching, Chelsea Knight, Quayswim and the community, not to mention my friends and family. There had been a lot of time and effort that had gone into getting me to the start line.

I wanted to complete the two miles for everyone, not just myself. With immense pride, I continued to swim, but a little bit faster (this may also have been due to the gel fuel setting in, too).

I kept thinking, there is not long left to go.

As I went on my second round, I saw a few people chatting and resting against their tow floats. I was quite glad I was going alone, as I probably would have been too busy chatting instead of swimming!

As I got to the last stretch, excitement started to set in, and I decided to attempt the last bit to the finish line in front crawl. My mind was saying front crawl, but my body wasn’t, so I continued to the finish line in breaststroke. I felt pleased that I had attempted my front crawl, at least.

Finish line in sight

As I came out, I could see the photographer and got so excited that I automatically started posing. He then reminded me: I still had to cross the finish line! For some unknown reason, I thought once you were out of the water, you had crossed the finish line.

Finally, I made it across the finish line, where my friends were waiting for me with big cheers. I was so chuffed with my performance, I just carried on taking photos and collecting my medal. The hot blackcurrant drink was so well received at the end.

And just like that, I completed two miles at Swim Serpentine. After the event, I got notification of my completion by text, and I got a PB – 1 hour and 52 minutes. I am so chuffed!

I am super proud of Sharmila, my friend, who hadn’t even started swimming until April this year, yet she completed the two-mile Swim Serpentine to get her London Classics.

It really doesn’t matter if you have never swum before or if you are an experienced swimmer – open water swimming truly is for everyone, regardless of age or ability.

It has been an amazing experience; I really want to do it all again.

Miaya was the winner of a set of open water kit from ZONE3 and a place at Swim Serpentine.

ZONE3 design high-performance swim products built through athlete experience, technical precision, and real-world testing. Their mission is to create equipment that delivers speed, efficiency, and confidence in every environment, supporting swimmers of all levels with proven performance they can rely on. Find out more

Photos by Hazpics photography