The Lunch Discussion - World-Record Waves: Timperley Mum Conquers 33.5-Mile Bristol Channel

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This is The Late Late Lunch Show with Rod Maxwell.
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So today on The Late Late Lunch Show, my guest is a mum of two from Timberley, Dr.
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Rebecca Lennon, who actually is a world record holder for the longest Bristol
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Channel swim route crossing from Ilkham.
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I can say it, in Devon, to South Wales in 13 hours and 52 minutes.
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Now, if you're like me, you're thinking, how could you be in the water that
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long? I couldn't swim the length of myself, but I'm delighted to have Rebecca
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here to talk about this and a number of other things. Rebecca, how are you?
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Oh, I'm good. Thanks for having me on, Rod. I always love to talk about swimming.
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Well, let's just talk about that. When did you get into swimming?
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Was it something you started as a kid?
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Yeah I did swimming lessons as a kid um and,
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the swimming instructor just said to my mum and dad she's really good you need
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to try and get her into the local swim club so,
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I grew up in Chester so I my mum and dad at about age of 10 just before I went
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to high school got me enrolled in the local swim club and so I kind of through
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my high school years trained with them developed,
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you know my strokes and speed and was part of lots of relay teams and got up
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to sort of county level swimming I was a 200 meter backstroker I went to a few
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national competitions as well,
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but then sort of gave up at about the ages of sort of 16 17,
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And then really regretted not getting into the university team, if I'm honest.
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I think I've sort of since met people along the way that are part of that university
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team. And I wish I'd done that. But then got back into it. And once I got married
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and we bought a house, we bought our first house in Stretford.
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And so I thought, you know what, I'm going to get back into swimming and found
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a local swim team, Trafford Metro, who train at a sail leisure centre.
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And I absolutely loved it. had two world records in two relay teams before the
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kids were born in the four by 200 meter freestyle relay when I could sprint,
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because 200 meter is a sprint compared to what I've just done,
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yeah but then the kids came along and as you know sort of your body changes
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your priorities change don't they and so I've kind of got back into master's
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swimming in the last couple of years and,
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sort of really wanted to sort of found.
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A niche for endurance sport and even doing,
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800 and 1500 meters which I was sort of national master's champion before the
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kids came along kind of wasn't I wasn't quick enough to do those anymore and
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so I just well I still did decent times but,
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thought well how far can I go
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and then that sort of set off the journey as to to see how far I can soon,
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i gotta say rebecca there's a bit of a difference between say a 200 meter sprint
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and a 33.5 mile swim that it's,
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it's quite it's quite a jump but look there's going to be so much to talk about today
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but i'm going to ask we'll talk about the swim we'll talk about the preparation
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i want to talk about even the mental challenges of doing this and i've got a
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i saw something on here about bioluminescence in our wake i've got to ask you about that as well
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many many things today my guest on The Late Late Lunch Show is Dr. Rebecca Lennon.
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She's a doctor. She's a world record holder. She comes from Timberley.
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We'll be back with her in a couple of minutes' time.
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This is The Late Late Lunch Show with Rod Maxwell.
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It's The Late Late Lunch Show, Rod Maxwell on Radio Alty, and I'm delighted
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to be speaking today to a mum of two, Dr. Rebecca Lennon.
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Not only a mum, not only a doctor, but now a world record holder for the longest
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Bristol Channel swim route crossing 13, no, what was it,
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33.5 miles between Elfincombe to Gower, I think. Is that where it was?
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Yeah, the Gower is the South Wales coast, so I landed in Port Eynon.
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Right, okay. So how do you go from getting back into a bit of swimming,
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okay, to saying, you know what, I'm going to go and do this?
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I think it was a Covid pandemic really I'd not really touched much open water swimming until then and,
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Obviously, being an NHS consultant, there really wasn't very much time during
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COVID to carry on doing your sport and all the pools were shut.
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But once the open water venues opened up, one of the other consultants who swims
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with me said, come on, let's go down to Stale Water Park. Let's get in.
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We need to get back in the water.
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And then she went, right, I've entered Chillswim Coniston, which is five and a quarter miles.
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Are you going to enter as well? and so we did that and I was like oh I can do
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this this wasn't too bad so then we just got longer and longer and so that was
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Coniston was 2021 I did Allswater in 2022,
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and then in 2023 I decided.
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To do them again and then add Windermere in so then that's Windermere's half
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of the length of the English Channel,
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and then I booked an English Channel swim and in the build-up to that I did
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like lots of six-hour swims I did a 12-hour swim in a lie day down in South Wales,
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and then I spent a whole week in Dover waiting to go on my channel swim and
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the weather just wouldn't let me even start which was so disappointing,
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and so I'd met Tom Chapman who runs Monster Swims which is the boat pilot that
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took me across the Bristol channel and I said look I know you do these Bristol
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channel swims I'm really disappointed I didn't do the English channel,
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I need a challenge and so he said well we've got multiple different routes across
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the Bristol Channel so this one you'll do in about six hours and I went Tom come on I can
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go off and do six hours myself at the weekend that's not a challenge he said well,
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then he said well the original Bristol Channel route like the traditional one
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that'll probably take about nine hours and I went no I need something longer,
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it was like right well why don't you come and do this one then which is Devon
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to South Wales coast it's the longest one not many people have done it and I went I'm in,
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and so that's kind of how I ended up doing that route of the Bristol Channel.
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I mean a lot of people always turn around say are you out of your mind I mean I mean just,
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send yourself a chance to get that that's that's what takes a lot of discipline
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as well never mind the training you've got to do for it so,
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let's just talk about the training for a minute just how much time did you need
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to do to prep to do to be nearly 14 hours in the water to swim over 30 miles so um,
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i would say i'm probably not the most disciplined swimmer I am very consistent
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at being inconsistent laughing.
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And I think I've just had to kind of learn to listen to my body,
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listen as, you know, I'm 43 now as well.
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So you've kind of got to understand when it's time to take a day off and when
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actually you can go and swim.
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I did over a million meters in preparation for the English Channel.
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So, you know, some weeks would be six swims a week with two sessions in the gym.
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I generally get up about five o'clock in the morning because if I've done a full day at work,
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my body and my brain doesn't want to go anywhere and so I'm I'm much better
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getting up even on and I am a night owl I find it really do do find it really
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difficult to get up in the morning but I get up at five go to the pool
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then go to work that's sort of how I fit my pool swimming in,
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I do two sessions in the gym a week and then at weekends that I would try and do 10k,
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once a month so I'd just go down I'm a member of total fitness in Altrincham
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so I would just go down to the pool on a Sunday afternoon and I'd do 10k up
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and down that 25 meter pool,
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which is also a mental challenge in itself so if you think about the mental
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challenges of a long distance swim getting bored just plodding up and down the
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pool is very much a part of it,
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and then as the open water you know warms up in the summer I'll go off and I'll
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try and do some longer swims so like a six hour swim,
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and there's a nice quarry up in Lancaster called Cap'n Ray which is a diving
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quarry so it's quite safe and I just go round and round in circles for six hours.
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A nice quarry and a deep water quarry. Now, I'm thinking back to your experiences
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up in swimming through the lakes in the Lake District.
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For a lot of people that even dip their toe in there, it's icy cold. I mean.
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What are you building up that gives you the ability to be in the water for that
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length of time? I mean, it's obviously very different to speed.
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It's endurance. but do you also have to build up your body and your mind to
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withstand the time in the water and the coldness, if you like?
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Yeah, I think I don't like winter swimming.
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I have tried it, I hate it, and so I will just dip in the winter but I think
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that's quite an important aspect of long-distance open water swimming in the summer.
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You're building up that sort of resistance to the cold And then sort of from
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April, May onwards, I'll try and go for longer swims, even though it's quite cold,
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so that then when you reach sort of temperatures of 16, 17, 18 in the summer,
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you can do a six hour swim quite comfortably in that.
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But, yeah, no, I hate cold water swimming. And also, you won't be able to tell,
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Rob, but I do have quite a lot of natural bioprene, is what I call it.
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So not the neoprene of the wetsuit, but my, you know, a certain level of body fat.
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You know, you won't see many distance channel swimmers who are very skinny.
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Right, okay. Look, I'll take it on my brain. That's my excuse.
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Well, it works for you. And I'll tell you what, there's not many people could
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be in the water for that length of time and swim that length of time we're talking
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today to to rebecca lennon a temple based mom a doctor,
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and a world record holder in swimming it's incredible and we'll be back with
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her again in a couple of minutes time
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this is the late late lunch show have you surprised yourself in what you've
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been able to achieve i mean i want to go back to to the swim in more detail but that you know.
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The fact that you are a world record holder not many people can say that,
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and and the fact that you were doing this as a mom as a busy,
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care consultant a palliative care consultant that in itself a lot of that just
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people being find it difficult to train for a marathon for example and you're
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doing that i'm more in in the water,
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have you surprised yourself at what you've been able to achieve,
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absolutely definitely I think when I first started training for those sort of
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distances my body was really going oh this is you know this is hard you are tired,
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but then it was sort of get used to the distances I was doing in a week and
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so then my coach would go right time to up it then you know and test yourself and I think,
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a lot of people have asked me, how do you fit it in time-wise?
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And I think my argument is we all have more time than we think.
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I think we waste a lot of time.
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And I think if you have a structure and a routine, which I do tend to have, then you can fit a lot in.
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And yes, I'm away from the house quite a bit sometimes. Not at a time where
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the kids necessarily miss me because, yeah, I'm not in for the school run.
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I don't work on a Monday, so I do take my kids to school on a Monday and pick
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them up as well. So that's quite a precious time. At least I have that.
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But the rest of the week you know dad does that in the morning but I'm always
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there in the evening to pick them up and sometimes actually that's the time
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that they want me the most yeah so I can be away at weekends but I think,
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what I try and talk to my kids about is,
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life is for living,
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it's about having adventures it's about doing things that bring you joy
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and they very much kind of see me doing that and I talked to them about the
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fact that I didn't do any of this when you were young because you really needed
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me I mean my kids are 12 and 8 so they still need me
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but in a slightly different way,
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and I think it's really important to equally show my kids that when they have
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their own kids and their own family yes you know you should look after them
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and prioritize them but you also need to live for yourself too
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and they should never put never put that on hold because I think,
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you know, mental health-wise, we need to be doing these things.
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And they're going to leave home someday.
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And I can imagine as a medical consultant,
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you you and especially in palliative care,
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there's a lot around the whole mentality and how you manage that because you're
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you're dealing with people going through very serious life-changing situations and i i can imagine,
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that takes a lot of emotional demands from you as as well as a doctor,
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did that cross over in terms of your mental strength for doing a challenge like
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this i think my soon probably helps my work if because.
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I i have adhd i cannot do mindfulness or meditation i just cannot switch my brain off,
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but actually swimming is almost my meditation especially long distance swimming
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because once you get into a rhythm and your pattern and it is very rhythmical
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i can totally utterly switch off and i think that's my meditation and that kind of helps me,
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with work really right but I think some of the reason why I end up doing what
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I do is because my mum died when I was 14 I obviously look after people with
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life-limiting illnesses and I think that,
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no one no one regretted working longer harder,
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you know you need to seize these opportunities when they come up my husband
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will probably sort of say well can we rein in how much it costs.
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Because I'm that kind of person that goes yeah but what if we don't we're making
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all these retirement plans but what if we don't get there,
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I I want to do this now but but that can be quite debilitating equally so it's
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trying to find a balance of wanting to make the most of opportunities because,
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I see that happening when people don't get those opportunities anymore.
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But yeah, it very much helps. I think having swum in the morning,
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I'm in a much better position at work to sort of deal with the rigors of work as well.
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And then equally at the weekend, it's nice to go off and just sort of have that
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meditation and relax and let my brain just sort of wander in the swimming pool.
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So I think it helps both ways, really.
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Yeah, I can see that. I want to take a note break. Let's go through the swim because it was in July.
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And I mean, I understand there was quite a swell in the water at that time.
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So you're battling that.
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You can talk us through it and what it felt like. So today I'm delighted to
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be speaking with Timberley Mum, Dr. Rebecca Lennon.
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She's a world record holder and the longest Bristol Channel swim route from
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Ilfracombe to South Wales in 13 hours and 52 minutes. You mentioned just being
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in the bath for 13 hours and 52 minutes, never mind in the water.
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I tell you, that's some fate. We'll be back with Rebecca in a couple of minutes.
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Time you're listening to rod maxwell on radio ulti rebecca can i ask when you
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were planning this did you select the period of time when it was optimal to
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be doing this swim in this particular part.
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Of the of the country when you book a swim like this the boat captain gives
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you what's called a window right so it's a period of time at which you,
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are able to swim so then there are several windows obviously in the season so,
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Tom tends to put just one person per window in the channel it's four people
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per window so it's much busier
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and Tom does that because the Bristol channel is notoriously fraught with weather
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and tides it's very both tidal so there's not often,
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fantastic opportunities to even start,
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so I got a window of a week,
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and so we were sort of talking in the run-up Tom was asking me,
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how quickly are you swimming like what speed are you swimming because then that
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gives him an idea of how long it's going to take me and then he'll try and pick
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within that window what day might be best to go
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but it is very unpredictable you know you've got your bags packed you've got everything ready to go,
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and it's that constant looking at the weather two three times a day what's changing what's staying and so.
00:18:00.307 --> 00:18:04.263
Thankfully i can be a little bit flexible with work because i've got people
00:18:04.263 --> 00:18:09.293
who can cover for me and so it was kind of like right we're going to go for
00:18:09.293 --> 00:18:13.813
this day but even up to the day before you it could still have been cancelled depending on,
00:18:14.677 --> 00:18:19.210
if the weather had turned so that's kind of how you plan it it's very unpredictable,
00:18:19.826 --> 00:18:24.293
and the bristol channel i'm just saying here it's it's larger it's wider than
00:18:24.293 --> 00:18:28.413
the english channel and the english channel itself is really busy i mean,
00:18:29.373 --> 00:18:33.020
Is it just a very busy route in itself with all the traffic around you?
00:18:33.995 --> 00:18:37.099
No, it's not half as busy as the English Channel.
00:18:37.337 --> 00:18:42.533
I don't remember seeing one boat the whole time, whereas in the English Channel
00:18:42.533 --> 00:18:44.477
you'll end up in the shipping lanes.
00:18:46.036 --> 00:18:50.626
Apparently there were two baby dolphins swimming with me at the start. I believe so.
00:18:51.149 --> 00:18:55.671
But it was too dark and they couldn't take a photo and I couldn't hear them or see them.
00:18:56.257 --> 00:18:58.212
There was a sea lion as well.
00:18:58.804 --> 00:19:05.186
Wow. And then I heard, I absolutely, definitely heard dolphins coming into the Gower in South Wales.
00:19:05.633 --> 00:19:08.456
And so I kind of went, I can hear dolphins. And they were all trying to look
00:19:08.456 --> 00:19:11.345
for them and they couldn't see them at all.
00:19:11.653 --> 00:19:16.587
And so then they were like, is she hallucinating? Do we think she's okay?
00:19:16.953 --> 00:19:24.106
But I swear I swear I heard them so you you stepped into the harbour at Elfincombe
00:19:24.106 --> 00:19:30.036
on the 2 a.m on July the 18th was that because the tides were the right point
00:19:30.036 --> 00:19:31.466
then at 2 a.m in the morning,
00:19:32.116 --> 00:19:37.597
yeah you have to go on a high tide and so 2 a.m was the optimum time at,
00:19:38.274 --> 00:19:43.350
during that window to go so it's absolutely pitch black there were fishermen
00:19:43.350 --> 00:19:47.490
on the harbour wall that I couldn't see and they were just chuckling at us on
00:19:47.490 --> 00:19:52.553
the boat because my friend Sean and was putting my,
00:19:53.205 --> 00:19:58.080
ocean lube and pseudocreme on and sun cream on and everything in the dark and
00:19:58.080 --> 00:20:04.745
we had this funny conversation about who was gonna lube up my private bit and so.
00:20:05.814 --> 00:20:09.830
And so the all the fishermen were just chuckling on the wall because they could
00:20:09.830 --> 00:20:11.119
sort of hear us talking about this,
00:20:11.758 --> 00:20:15.790
but then yeah I mean I've never been to Ilfer Coombe I kind of didn't realize
00:20:15.790 --> 00:20:20.030
how rocky it was you've just got to jump off the boat into pitch black water,
00:20:20.494 --> 00:20:25.480
they shine a big light where they want you to head to on on the shore so,
00:20:26.000 --> 00:20:30.170
I'm swimming in pitch black water I then suddenly go oh yeah I can probably
00:20:30.170 --> 00:20:34.421
stand up now because I can feel rocks all underneath me but then you've got
00:20:34.555 --> 00:20:39.600
I then had to in the dark somehow sort of traverse this rocky,
00:20:40.060 --> 00:20:44.550
aspect to because you have to clear the water your feet absolutely have to clear
00:20:44.550 --> 00:20:48.010
the water in order to be able to start that sort of one of the marathon swimming
00:20:48.010 --> 00:20:51.838
federation rules and once that happened I sort of put my hands up,
00:20:52.378 --> 00:20:57.110
and the the boat honked their horn and the observer who's on the boat who's
00:20:57.110 --> 00:21:01.100
collecting lots of data for me in order to have it the swim ratified sort of
00:21:01.100 --> 00:21:07.182
starts the clock and then I have to sort of wade back in and meet the boat again and then off we go.
00:21:07.980 --> 00:21:11.480
And what were you feeling at the time? Did you feel nervous,
00:21:11.480 --> 00:21:15.431
anxious or just excited or maybe even relieved to get going?
00:21:16.098 --> 00:21:20.227
I think relief was a big part of it because obviously the year before I'd spent
00:21:20.227 --> 00:21:23.615
a whole week in Dover to not even be able to start,
00:21:24.138 --> 00:21:28.717
and we were very relaxed because we had to we took the boat from Port Call over
00:21:28.717 --> 00:21:33.837
to Ilfercum so that was you know a bit of a boat ride anyway so we're having a laugh making,
00:21:34.455 --> 00:21:39.046
jokes we were watching the bioluminescence you know coming off the side of the boat
00:21:39.482 --> 00:21:44.097
and Sian and I the night before had been she lives in Port Talbot and there's
00:21:44.097 --> 00:21:47.227
this lovely little harbour area in Port Talbot where you can just go and dip
00:21:47.227 --> 00:21:51.336
and sort of just swim in it and that was that was really magical I've never done that before,
00:21:51.875 --> 00:21:56.537
and so yeah I was quite calm but once I got out into the boat when I was just
00:21:56.537 --> 00:22:00.717
in my swimsuit and it was quite the air was quite chilly and then I think the
00:22:00.717 --> 00:22:02.337
adrenaline kicked in I was I was,
00:22:03.009 --> 00:22:05.163
shaking uncontrollably,
00:22:05.886 --> 00:22:09.047
and they were all like are you okay and I was like yeah mentally I'm absolutely
00:22:09.047 --> 00:22:14.377
fine but my body's just sort of shaking so much but as soon as I kind of like
00:22:14.377 --> 00:22:18.844
jumped into the water it all just sort of settled down so yeah I kind of,
00:22:19.634 --> 00:22:24.297
I don't think excitement is the word I think it was this I'd got myself into
00:22:24.297 --> 00:22:26.191
this position of oh this is happening,
00:22:27.365 --> 00:22:32.997
get in and do it you know what you need to do I didn't think it would be quite
00:22:32.997 --> 00:22:34.767
as difficult as it was because.
00:22:36.240 --> 00:22:40.460
But, yeah, because the first two hours were not so bad. It was dark.
00:22:41.167 --> 00:22:48.243
But then for six hours after that, it was horrendous swell. I felt like I was in a washing machine.
00:22:49.853 --> 00:22:55.514
I was puking. I brought up all the dinner from the night before.
00:22:56.113 --> 00:22:59.671
I then was really, really struggling to keep feeds down.
00:22:59.996 --> 00:23:04.183
It's also very difficult in that sort of weather to be able to actually get
00:23:04.183 --> 00:23:07.560
into a rhythm and have a stroke and feel like you're going places,
00:23:08.071 --> 00:23:12.309
but tom sort of shouted at me he's like look you've done 11k in three hours
00:23:12.518 --> 00:23:16.503
you're you're moving and i think that really helped i needed to kind of hear
00:23:16.503 --> 00:23:20.254
that is that even though i don't feel like i'm swimming very well i'm actually i am.
00:23:21.423 --> 00:23:25.713
But i was getting a little bit frustrated and a bit fed up and when we swapped
00:23:25.713 --> 00:23:31.627
my goggles over did have a bit of a cry i actually cried i'm i can imagine that
00:23:31.940 --> 00:23:34.793
context is really quite difficult up because you're you're,
00:23:35.653 --> 00:23:38.713
well what stroke were you doing most of the time Rebecca front,
00:23:39.581 --> 00:23:43.423
crawl front crawl so your head's down quite a bit and and and just even with
00:23:43.423 --> 00:23:47.623
the sea and even when light comes up light would be coming up about half past
00:23:47.623 --> 00:23:49.913
four or five o'clock then I would imagine maybe yeah yeah,
00:23:50.767 --> 00:23:55.983
but you you may not have a perspective on how far you've come and and actually
00:23:55.983 --> 00:24:01.158
the people on the boat helping you there they're they're really your motivational coach aren't they,
00:24:01.675 --> 00:24:05.907
yeah absolutely I think it's a really difficult balance between,
00:24:06.545 --> 00:24:13.426
telling me enough to keep me going but not telling me the bad bits you know yes and I think,
00:24:14.241 --> 00:24:19.512
When we got to the end, it was really lovely to kind of debrief in here.
00:24:19.532 --> 00:24:23.122
Because there's this, what I would always say is that there's the story that
00:24:23.122 --> 00:24:24.725
goes on in your head as a swimmer.
00:24:25.241 --> 00:24:27.586
And then there's the reality of what was on the boat.
00:24:28.231 --> 00:24:30.251
And the two never marry up.
00:24:30.972 --> 00:24:34.396
Because as the swimmer, you always think everyone on the boat is lying to you.
00:24:39.152 --> 00:24:45.522
And Sian was my crewmate. so she you know was responsible for sort of helping
00:24:45.522 --> 00:24:48.712
me out to get into the water with all the lubrication and stuff and she was
00:24:48.712 --> 00:24:50.707
responsible for my feeding,
00:24:51.493 --> 00:24:54.412
and she was always going to get in for the last half an hour with me as well
00:24:54.412 --> 00:24:58.142
I said it would be really really nice because she was the current world record
00:24:58.142 --> 00:25:01.312
holder of that route she swam it 10 years ago,
00:25:03.283 --> 00:25:08.092
and I said it would be really really lovely for you to get in and do the last
00:25:08.092 --> 00:25:15.234
half now with me I didn't think that that would be me breaking her real record though to be fair,
00:25:15.768 --> 00:25:20.062
and it wasn't we weren't thinking that it was a you're my friend would be really
00:25:20.062 --> 00:25:24.743
nice what a lovely moment to do that with but we did say I was like she said
00:25:25.074 --> 00:25:28.539
you you thought I was lying to you didn't you and I was like yeah I really did,
00:25:29.004 --> 00:25:31.680
I thought she's just telling me this to,
00:25:32.330 --> 00:25:35.807
make me feel better because your mind plays loads of tricks on you.
00:25:36.074 --> 00:25:38.518
I thought I'd been in the water for a lot, lot longer.
00:25:38.832 --> 00:25:44.544
I was trying to figure out with where the sun was in the sky as to what time of the day it was.
00:25:45.492 --> 00:25:50.998
So, yeah, all those mind trips come in to play. And I'd sort of given her a
00:25:50.998 --> 00:25:55.738
few phrases to give me that might be motivational. And one that my friend Dave
00:25:55.738 --> 00:25:57.751
gives me is, this too shall pass.
00:25:58.256 --> 00:26:03.235
So when I had a bit of a sob, which really helped because it kind of got rid of a lot of tension.
00:26:03.688 --> 00:26:08.638
She went, this too shall pass. And I won't tell you the prelude language that
00:26:08.638 --> 00:26:14.596
I used, but basically I went, yeah, but when, you know, I get that it will pass, but when.
00:26:15.493 --> 00:26:19.468
But the only issue with that sort of mentality is that when you're feeling good,
00:26:19.468 --> 00:26:23.947
which is once that weather really settled, it was absolutely glorious.
00:26:24.283 --> 00:26:26.192
The sun was up. It was flat.
00:26:26.598 --> 00:26:30.878
Well, relatively flat. I felt like I was flying.
00:26:31.509 --> 00:26:34.848
But again, this too shall pass because that doesn't last forever either.
00:26:35.295 --> 00:26:40.844
And then when we got into the Gower, it was bloody awful again. And it was like deja vu.
00:26:41.726 --> 00:26:44.834
My guest today is, so typically, Mama Tui, Rebecca, Dr.
00:26:44.834 --> 00:26:48.334
Rebecca Lennon, a world record holder for her swim this year.
00:26:48.334 --> 00:26:50.704
She's just been talking about this. We'll take a short break,
00:26:51.040 --> 00:26:56.254
be back with her to find out more about this unbelievable challenge and experience.
00:26:56.254 --> 00:26:59.414
This is The Late Late Lunch Show with Rod Maxwell.
00:26:59.814 --> 00:27:06.125
Rebecca, in terms of the rules, the rules for recording a record,
00:27:06.485 --> 00:27:09.384
how often are you allowed to leave?
00:27:09.384 --> 00:27:14.114
Are you allowed to leave the sea to take on refreshments and nourishment,
00:27:14.114 --> 00:27:16.510
et cetera? Are you in the water the whole time?
00:27:17.173 --> 00:27:23.024
In the water the whole time. You can't touch anything and no one can touch you.
00:27:23.663 --> 00:27:27.773
Wow. So you're just completely, I mean, you're supported, but you're not actually
00:27:28.034 --> 00:27:30.101
physically supported in any way, if you like.
00:27:30.733 --> 00:27:38.036
No. And to do it as per Marathon Swimming Federation rules, which again is channel swimming rules.
00:27:39.054 --> 00:27:44.684
It's a single lined costume single hat goggles that's it so it's basically like
00:27:44.684 --> 00:27:46.488
a normal swimsuit basically,
00:27:47.126 --> 00:27:51.904
yeah so the performance suits that you see then you know the olympians racing
00:27:51.904 --> 00:27:56.263
and you can't wear one of those can't have anything that goes beyond the knee
00:27:56.559 --> 00:27:58.093
so you can't wear a wetsuit no,
00:27:59.234 --> 00:28:03.754
were you worried about i don't know say for example jellyfish or anything like
00:28:03.754 --> 00:28:09.602
that i mean What was your biggest worry about the natural environment you were in?
00:28:10.714 --> 00:28:13.984
I don't think I had any particular worries about the natural environment,
00:28:13.984 --> 00:28:17.112
because it's definitely not a stretch of water that has any nasties in it.
00:28:19.114 --> 00:28:24.274
I think I was quite naive about the jellyfish, though. It's not as bad as some
00:28:24.274 --> 00:28:27.514
areas. Say, if you do Scotland to Ireland, the North Channel,
00:28:27.514 --> 00:28:30.671
the lion's mane jellyfish there are Bishops,
00:28:31.571 --> 00:28:35.468
I take antihistamines in the week in the run-up. And of course,
00:28:35.468 --> 00:28:38.485
you put stuff on as well to try and help you protect from the jellyfish thing.
00:28:38.851 --> 00:28:43.396
But I did get stung quite a bit. I got one stuck down my costume.
00:28:44.038 --> 00:28:50.513
It sort of went down the front. I've got scars on my belly now from that jellyfish. And I stopped.
00:28:51.267 --> 00:28:53.294
And the guys on the boat went, you all right? You all right?
00:28:53.294 --> 00:28:59.397
And I was like, yeah, I'm just fishing this jellyfish from down my swimming costume.
00:28:59.939 --> 00:29:03.434
And I think I was quite lucky. There was a couple of barrel jellyfish that apparently
00:29:03.434 --> 00:29:07.164
like Sian could see I was swimming towards and just happened to avoid it.
00:29:07.164 --> 00:29:09.175
But they're quite, they're quite something.
00:29:09.465 --> 00:29:14.504
I had a big welt on my face, on my forehead afterwards. Something had got me
00:29:14.504 --> 00:29:16.199
there. I did feel that that was awful.
00:29:16.472 --> 00:29:20.605
And one of my ears was really, really swollen because I felt that one as well, probably on the ear.
00:29:20.977 --> 00:29:25.481
So the jellyfish were the worst bit really but no I'm not worried about anything else.
00:29:27.182 --> 00:29:31.734
And and and you were conscious that this could be that you would have these
00:29:31.734 --> 00:29:35.214
experiences it was you weren't sitting there thinking what the heck's going
00:29:35.214 --> 00:29:38.513
on here you you were aware from other swimmers experience,
00:29:39.158 --> 00:29:42.165
yeah and once I felt it I was like oh god,
00:29:42.804 --> 00:29:47.324
a jellyfish just got me on the face or the ear and that's a jellyfish down my
00:29:47.324 --> 00:29:53.614
swimsuit because I definitely felt that and then I picked it out and threw it Tom we had,
00:29:54.169 --> 00:29:58.364
I do find it funny but Tom Tom got a bit bored at one point and we were in a
00:29:58.364 --> 00:30:02.394
patch where there was just loads of jellyfish and in the dark once we set up
00:30:02.394 --> 00:30:05.134
for the Ilfakum I went through some bloody big,
00:30:06.014 --> 00:30:09.744
swarms of them and they were just battering me in the head but they were the
00:30:09.744 --> 00:30:13.824
little ones that don't tend to sting you very much but we've got a funny video
00:30:13.824 --> 00:30:18.164
because Tom was picking them up out of the water and he threw one at me and
00:30:18.164 --> 00:30:19.589
it hit me square in the back.
00:30:19.728 --> 00:30:23.385
I thought I'd missed maybe the feed bottle that they were throwing me.
00:30:23.722 --> 00:30:25.674
And so I stopped and I was like, what was that?
00:30:26.454 --> 00:30:30.315
And Sian's just like, oh, they're just bored. They're just throwing jellyfish at you now.
00:30:32.166 --> 00:30:37.304
Easy for them. Let's talk about Tom and the company that was your support company there.
00:30:38.034 --> 00:30:43.402
Who were they again, Rebecca? So Tom Chapman is the boat pilot.
00:30:43.831 --> 00:30:48.735
And here's skipper Alex. They were the people who were responsible for.
00:30:49.444 --> 00:30:52.631
Pointing the boat in the right direction so that I could follow the boat.
00:30:53.273 --> 00:30:57.845
They can see what direction I'm going and what direction the boat's going and
00:30:57.845 --> 00:31:00.895
what direction the tide's going. So they're really responsible for trying to
00:31:00.895 --> 00:31:02.619
get the best route across.
00:31:03.078 --> 00:31:08.385
And I had a lovely lady called Roz, who was my observer, who I paid to be on
00:31:08.385 --> 00:31:14.285
the boat. So she checks things like my stroke rate, water temperature, wind speed, all of that.
00:31:14.345 --> 00:31:17.722
You've got to record all of that in order to ratify the swim.
00:31:18.215 --> 00:31:23.385
And then Sian Clement who is someone I met a year ago doing my 12-hour swim
00:31:23.725 --> 00:31:28.252
in Alido in South Wales and we've just really hit it off and been friends ever since
00:31:28.693 --> 00:31:33.865
and she lives down there she's done a lot of these Bristol Channel swims and,
00:31:34.312 --> 00:31:36.866
she was available so I said will you come and crew for me,
00:31:37.345 --> 00:31:40.985
and she was the current record holder for that route as well so that was pretty
00:31:40.985 --> 00:31:47.024
special and she's a very accomplished marathon channel swimmer so who better
00:31:47.448 --> 00:31:52.684
to have really so you were in the water from 2 a.m
00:31:53.119 --> 00:31:57.965
it was you were in it nearly 14 hours so you were getting out about a quarter
00:31:57.965 --> 00:32:04.365
to four when was the moment as you were approaching the beach because i forget
00:32:04.365 --> 00:32:06.725
the the beach's name It was Port...
00:32:08.342 --> 00:32:11.865
Port Aynan. Port Aynan. When was the moment you thought, I'm nearly here?
00:32:12.385 --> 00:32:15.105
And did that change you in any way?
00:32:16.165 --> 00:32:20.546
I thought I was nearly there a long, long time before I actually got there.
00:32:21.425 --> 00:32:26.199
Because I could see where Tom was wanting us to get in.
00:32:26.768 --> 00:32:32.521
And it felt really, really odd because Tom was having to point the boat north-west.
00:32:34.814 --> 00:32:39.415
In order for me to go northwest because of the way the tide was going and that
00:32:39.415 --> 00:32:42.951
totally screwed up my brain because I was like,
00:32:43.621 --> 00:32:47.080
why are we not getting any closer and it was because we were going sideways
00:32:47.080 --> 00:32:52.690
we were going forwards and sideways basically so I was just like that was so
00:32:52.690 --> 00:32:55.104
frustrating and mentally that was really really difficult,
00:32:56.429 --> 00:32:59.700
and he did say at one point you're gonna have to give me a really good half
00:32:59.700 --> 00:33:05.050
an hour here to get past all this chart he said I can see smooth water over
00:33:05.050 --> 00:33:10.582
there I need you to get into it otherwise we're gonna miss land completely,
00:33:11.145 --> 00:33:14.750
and it was at a time where I was like I ain't got nothing there's I could,
00:33:15.278 --> 00:33:19.278
I could keep going at the speed I was going and just keeping my arms going over
00:33:19.574 --> 00:33:24.020
but you want me to go faster jeepers I don't quite know how I was going to do
00:33:24.020 --> 00:33:29.614
this but you know and you're like I'm three quarters of the way across here I'm not going back,
00:33:30.438 --> 00:33:32.609
it's do or die basically,
00:33:33.501 --> 00:33:36.850
and I kind of said to everyone the only reason you're going to pull me out is
00:33:36.850 --> 00:33:40.896
if I'm having a medical emergency and so I was like right this is just pain
00:33:41.145 --> 00:33:47.069
you've dealt with pain before pain is temporary you know glory lives on forever doesn't it so,
00:33:47.970 --> 00:33:51.830
that was kind of what I had to just sort of tell myself and you were going through
00:33:51.830 --> 00:33:55.341
that in your head as you were swimming yeah yeah,
00:33:56.023 --> 00:33:59.520
and when in your life had you ever experienced anything like that where you
00:33:59.520 --> 00:34:03.517
were doing your own you were doing your own mental coaching if you like.
00:34:04.716 --> 00:34:11.775
I think there's been various times where obviously my mental health hasn't been fantastic and,
00:34:12.670 --> 00:34:18.568
I did some cognitive behavioral therapy when I had postnatal depression with my first child,
00:34:19.188 --> 00:34:22.730
and then I obviously do quite a bit of cognitive behavioral therapy with my
00:34:22.730 --> 00:34:27.000
patients as well to be fair so it's about changing your thinking then that change
00:34:27.000 --> 00:34:31.390
your beliefs in in your actions so it's like you know you can do this You've
00:34:31.390 --> 00:34:32.715
swam for 12 hours before,
00:34:33.447 --> 00:34:35.409
you know, you can do this.
00:34:35.960 --> 00:34:39.048
It's just hard at the moment. And this too shall pass.
00:34:39.652 --> 00:34:41.167
It won't feel like this forever.
00:34:42.052 --> 00:34:47.058
Don't give up now and so that's kind of what i had to try and tell myself and
00:34:47.058 --> 00:34:50.738
i think most of these swims are yeah they're physical you can get yourself into
00:34:50.738 --> 00:34:54.337
a physical place where you can do it and then the rest is this sort of talk.
00:34:56.048 --> 00:34:59.748
You've got to mentally get over some of those barriers it is much easier to
00:34:59.748 --> 00:35:02.339
give up isn't it than to power through something,
00:35:02.786 --> 00:35:05.808
well let's take a break there because i want to come back and ask you what it
00:35:06.128 --> 00:35:11.538
felt like to step out onto that beach and so today It's an amazing story,
00:35:11.538 --> 00:35:12.868
an amazing achievement.
00:35:12.868 --> 00:35:17.468
I'm speaking to Rebecca Lennon, Dr. Rebecca Lennon from Timberley,
00:35:17.775 --> 00:35:23.515
a moment to a world record holder, a swimmer. And a swimmer has some fantastic ability.
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And we'll be back with her in a couple of minutes time. This is the Late Late
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Lunch Show. Rebecca, your description of it almost gives me goosebumps that you're thinking about.
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And you know for anybody just to you know I said before just sitting in a bath
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for nearly 14 hours is hard enough,
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without that the moment you stepped out onto the the beach at Port Island you were saying,
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what was the first thought that entered your head probably not repeatable.
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I think it was like oh thank god you know I can get up walk up stand up,
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and but I think the challenge then is you've been horizontal for 14 hours can
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you actually stand up and you have you know with the rules you actually have to not be assisted out,
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you have to be able to stand up by yourself and clear the water so that was
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kind of what I was focusing on um,
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Sian swan the last half an hour with me so she was with me but she couldn't
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help me and she was very aware of that so she kind of kept that,
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And then she sort of went, go, go, go. You've got nine minutes.
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And I thought, nine minutes? Nine minutes for what?
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To celebrate and then get back on the boat. Because sometimes on these swims,
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especially sea swims, the boat's really struggling to hold its position behind
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you in the water because it can't get in all the way with you.
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So it's got to leave you at some point.
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And so I thought she meant nine minutes because we need to get back on the boat
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as quickly as possible because Tom can't hold the boat in this position for
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quite as long but she meant nine minutes to break her world record and so when.
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We stood up on the beach and the horn went and it was like great you know stop
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the the timer we can touch each
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other now she went do you want a hug and I went no I don't I want a wee,
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because I think I've not been able to wee for the last like three hours because
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I couldn't relax enough in the water to do it so I just flopped myself I laughed
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out on the beach, had a wee.
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I was like, oh, thanks, I can breathe again now. And then I stood up and we had a lovely hug.
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And I went, what do you mean now? Have we got to get back on the boat now?
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And she went, no, you broke my world record. And I went, I did not. And she went, you did?
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And I just couldn't believe it. I really couldn't. That's very unselfish of her, isn't it?
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To share that moment with you and to be joyous about the fact that you've done that.
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She is an absolutely wonderful woman who I really truly believe will be a massive
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part of my life moving forward
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we've already planned our next swim and we're going to crew for each other we're
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going to go to America and do a big lake swim together so one of us will go solo
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while the other cruise and vice versa yeah she's a real I mean what a sports
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person to to just be able to champion it,
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we we didn't talk about it beforehand so in the run-up Tom when Tom asked me
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how fast I was swimming he went oh he went do you think you might beat Sian's
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record and I went I have thought about it,
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but I know what a world-class swimmer she is if it took Sian 14 hours there's
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a reason it took Sian 14 hours and even on the boat on the way over to Ilfaquim you.
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Sean and I hadn't talked about it and she just turned around to Roz and she
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went Roz I think my record might go today and that was the first I'd sort of
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heard any acknowledgement between the two of us that that might be on and.
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And she said she was trying to tell me while I was in the water that I was going to beat it,
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and Tom said to me afterwards at one point they thought I was going to finish in 12 and a half hours
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because of how fast I was swimming and it was only once we got into the South
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Wales and the Gower that when the the wind and the tide was just tremendous he said
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and that really really slowed me down so sean was like yeah there was never
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any doubt on the boat that you were going to beat it um,
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and i was like i wish you'd all bloody told me that that would have bloody helped.
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And and what i mean what has been the reaction to you doing this from family friends colleagues etc,
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and how does it feel now I mean I had a little whatsapp group going well I say
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little there was quite there was a few hundred people in there following me
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and Sean sort of documented it almost and put lots of videos on so,
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I was able to go back the next day and just sort of read through all of those
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in the morning and that was really really wonderful and yeah I think,
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the people who I swim with and who know me as a swimmer and as swimmers themselves
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had absolutely no doubt you know and they're all just very proud,
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I mean most my family and other friends who are not swimmers they're just like
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they just can't even compute what I've done,
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but I think a lot of them have gone you know over the years you've shown yourself
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to be a very mentally resilient person so,
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we're not surprised you've done it but.
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You've got to kind of, I'm friends with swimmers who are world champions and
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world record holders, you know, in pool and stuff in their own right.
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And so me amongst them, it's not so different.
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So it's nice when friends and family who aren't in that sort of cohort come up and go.
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It does really remind you what an absolute amazing achievement it is.
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And it seems to me that there are not many sports that you can rub up with professionals
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and world record holders as somebody who's not doing it full time because,
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you're a busy professional on walks of life.
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And somehow that makes it even more special that they recognize your achievement.
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And I mean, you're a world record holder. That is just incredible.
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Has that really set in? Has that hit you?
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At all Rebecca not really not really I mean you've got a certificate I'm sure for,
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of that now have you well I'm waiting so everything's gone off to Guinness World
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Records so I'm just waiting so it is still subject to ratification but
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the Bristol Channel Swimming Association have ratified it so there isn't really
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a reason why the Guinness World Records wouldn't either so yeah I think it.
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It is incredible. Do I think a young whippersnapper could come along and swim
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it and break my record? Absolutely.
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And I'll just wait for someone to do that. But in the meantime, I'll take the glory.
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Absolutely take the glory. Now, before we go, you mentioned something else that
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you're involved with and you've got to practice in an ultra,
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which is looking, doing GP checks for athletes.
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And I guess what I, we're living in a period now where people do,
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you know people ordinary people who have got jobs and they're not professional
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athletes are doing extraordinary feats now and that comes with both great opportunity
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but also a little bit of peril and they.
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There are now more opportunities for people to get checked out professionally,
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as an amateur and is that is that partly what you're you're involved in doing,
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um yeah so for all of these long distance swims people need medicals so if you're
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doing english channel bristol channel any sort of channel around the world you
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need a medical and so i kind of set myself.
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Up doing them because gps are not contracted to do them so if they do them it's
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out of their own goodwill and so there's not many people who do these sorts
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of medicals for athletes so i set myself up doing it it's been absolutely fantastic,
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So there are some sports where you don't need a medical, but I would say anyone
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who is carrying on competing into later life should really start thinking about some of these things.
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A lot of the risks and a lot of cardiovascular issues develop silently.
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And my friend Nick Parks had a cardiac arrest at an open water swimming event in 2023.
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He survived and he has come back. He's swimming better than ever.
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Would you believe he's over 60 and as sort of part of my medicals work I sort
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of I've supported him to swim the length of Loch Ness,
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recently so we did a lot of pre-medical work I then went and was on the boat
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with him to make sure that he wasn't developing any issues while he was swimming
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checking for swimming induced pulmonary edema and then I was there if anything went awry
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as well and also in recovery because people forget about that that stage of things too,
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and he's a massive advocate and he's trying to promote,
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people getting themselves checked out into later life because,
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he was still competing at a high level you know national open water champion himself and.
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And he went into that event not thinking that there was anything wrong with him.
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And he had a heart attack during the swim and arrested. So he's a massive advocate for this.
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I think, you know, a lot of you don't even have to have issues wrong with you
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to collapse at an event. It is just the rigors of doing the event as well.
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So I try to educate people when I'm doing the medical about some of the,
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you know, health issues that they might feel if they don't feel right.
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Or if they're doing the event if these things happen really think about stopping,
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but we're pretty bad at that if you're competitive by nature you don't want
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to stop do you but I think certainly in the open water swimming world,
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there are things that happen that are outside of your control and we are definitely,
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putting the message out there it's better to come back and swim another day
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than it is to die doing a swim yeah,
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and so yeah I it's been a wonderful aspect because again it brings some light
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to some of the dark in my in my day job,
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i love hearing people's stories i love championing them.
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And also helping them out because there's not many people that do these medicals
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i guess having been in the situation you've been in you can talk very,
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authentically about about what it is and that that that makes a big difference
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in all walks of life, Rebecca.
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Yeah, absolutely. That lived experience as an athlete. And then some of my clients
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are ending up sort of meeting each other at events and realizing their clients.
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I've got this lovely community building now as well. So yeah, it's lovely.
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So if people want to follow your story, I want to find out more about the business
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of what you're doing around GP checks, et cetera. Where should they find out more about you?
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So my business is Streamline Medicals. So my Instagram handle is at Streamline Medicals.
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My website is streamlinemedicals.co.uk.
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And you can find out where I am, what sort of checks I do through my website.
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And on Instagram, you can follow some of my swims, some of my clients' swims,
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Nick's swim across Loch Ness as well.
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And I put podcasts out that I do on there too, so you can listen to some of those stories.
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Fantastic. Well, look, so what's next? What's next? Where are you swimming next then?
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Well, I was supposed to swim Loch Ness myself, but again, weather kind of came
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into play. and I'm not sad about that because it was bloody cold and I watched
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Nick do it and I thought maybe I'm not ready for this one.
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So I'm going to do that next year with a bit more preparation and then Sian
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and I are going to go and swim Lake Tahoe together in America next year.
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Beautiful. I went to Lake Tahoe back in 2016 actually and we found a beautiful place to swim.
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Well, look, it's a fantastic story and it just is fantastic and well done to you.
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And thanks for your time oh thanks rod it's been great telling my story this
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is the late late lunch show with rod maxwell.