Our very own Zoe and Lee Hipwell who are a part of the off road group the ‘Bean Machines’ ( led by Vikki Bean). Have kindly put some words together of their experience of the The Great North SwimRun Endurance.
‘When you’re travelling to the Lake District for an event……you might as well choose the hardest one right??
We previously hadn’t taken part in a SwimRun Endurance event before. To mark occasion of Lee’s 49th birthday…. I didn’t really have a choice about it!
SwimRun involves multiple sections of trail running and swimming with no stops in between. You have to swim in your shoes and run in your wetsuit.
Training was comical in Bradford: Swimming and running round Chellow Dene Reservoir must’ve been quite a sight for the local dog walkers.
We had really tricky start to the morning after having problems with the local transport. We arrived with hardly anytime to spare. We were feeling a slightly stressed but that soon disappeared…when we were allowed into the water for acclimatisation . We already knew it this point it was going to be tough challenge in the forecasted 26°C heat.
The race started with a 1.1km swim across Lake Windermere. It was a splash fest with the other competitors swimming beside us. We didn’t manage to swim in a straight line which probably made our swim twice as long! We had made the decision before had commenced to enjoy it. There were couple some moments when we stop and take in beautiful surroundings.
Our first run was pleasant, on a dusty track at the side of the lake nicely in the shade. The second swim, we realised that the speedy transitions we hoped for were unrealistic as there was lots of faffing about with hats, goggles, bags, swim paddles and forcing ourselves to eat.
We immediately realised that the swims were a pleasant break from being in the intense heat. We actually became quite jealous of our competitors running in their budgie smugglers!
All the way up to Brathay, we were on the look out for our fellow Bean Machines who were coming to cheerlead. Both me and Lee were totally gutted as we hadn’t met them at Low Wray as planned. Little did we know at this point that we had travelled much faster than planned and they had to spend the whole day trying to catch us!
At Brathay Hall, the Endurance competitors split off from the middle distance folk and headed towards Loughrigg Fell. I really wish that someone would have told us to take extra water. It was a horrible climb that took forever up to the top and in our wetsuits. (You started to feel like a boil in a bag chicken!)
Lee’s not a sun-worshiper unlike me, he started to feel a bit rough. We ran out of fluid and steam. It was a challenging slog to Grasmere but when we got there, I plopped into the lake like an old Labrador. Grasmere was my favourite swim of all after the struggle. We arrived to a little beach to all the day trippers cheering us on with words of encouragement and clapping away.
After a wonderful dip in Rydal, we headed up and over another fell. Lee was flagging at this point. I had to sit him down before he fell down, strip off his wetsuit and smother him in sunscreen and fed him a peanut butter sandwich. This cost us a few places in competition. Then, annoyingly we missed the flag and headed in the wrong direction. This was pretty rough straight after being eaten alive by horse flies.
After a little detour, we started heading back down and happily bumped into Ian and Michelle. We were delighted to see QRC tops, a gorgeous black dog and bottles of Lucozade! It really lifted our spirits and helped us to get back to on track.
Back at Brathay, we jumped off the deck into the choppiest swim of the day as a storm was brewing. Water slapped us in the face and it became really hard to catch our breath through the waves.
Once we arrived at Ambleside, it was so full of happy tourists and we perked up again. We must have looked amusing running down the street in our swim caps. We knew the final swim was so close and were not bothered taking them off.
Our final swim back to Brockhole was such a relief, it longer swim and was quite tricky for sighting. We ended up at the wrong side of the buoys, much to the amusement of the safety team.
At this point I may not have been responsible for my actions! We ended up back at Brockhole just in time for a pint and some much needed food!
The best parts of the day were working as team with the hubby. The camaraderie between the competitors, the amazing teams at the checkpoints and sense of accomplishment. we felt conquering something we doubted we’d ever be able to complete.
Anyone who can swim and run and would love to try something new, I would highly recommend it. The freedom you feel going from one discipline to the next was totally unique. We didn’t place very well, but as only 24 teams were crazy enough to even enter it and only 19 teams actually finished it, we were quite happy to be 18th place.
