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“En Route to the French Coast…….”
Swimming the Channel for the Heart of Kent Hospice, to honour my mum[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”2/3″][vc_empty_space][vc_column_text]Swimmers Beach, Dover 5th May 2018. Dead flat and sunny. What a blessing!!!
It was an important start line for me. Hard core training starts here.
Organised by an amazing crew of volunteers. The tradition was started in 1982 by Freda Streeter MBE also known as The General. Freda is the mother of Queen of the Channel – Alison Streeter MBE, who has swum across the channel 43 times under Freda’s guidance.
After 34 years of helping hundreds of swimmers to achieve their goals, Freda has handed the baton to Emma France (no honestly, that is her real name!)
Emma heads up the volunteers with wisdom that comes from a very impressive swimming CV. and it’s growing every year. I was very grateful for Emma’s advice 3 weeks into my recent injury. All is not lost. “Just make sure you are fully recovered, then wait a few more days before you start training again”
I did as I was told and consequently I have just enjoyed my first weekend training.
We double dipped. Which means swim, get out, recover for an hour, then get back in and swim again. Saturday 20mins/ 30 mins Sunday 30 mins/ 50 mins. The water was only 11 degrees. I had only just stopped shiveringso the last thing I wanted to do is remove my fluffy socks and woolly jumper. The first of many acts of will power. It is an unnatural thing to do, but what Emma says goes!
The crew had themed the weekend… Back to School, the class of 2018. All the volunteers were dressed in teachers gowns with mortar boards. Gold stars and prizes were handed out for good behaviour or creeping in my case. I became teacher’s pet, because I got Emma a cup of tea…..big cheesy grin.
It’s really good to be back in the water!
For more info go to www.doverchanneltraining.com[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]She will be raising funds in support of the Heart of Kent Hospice.
Please help support this vision HERE[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”88129″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][vc_column_text]
Claire’s Mum Pat
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