The first Serpentine relay English Channel swimming squad for 2015 will set off for France anytime from Monday 22 June.
The four swimmer relay team have invested many tough hours swimming in cold water, a few warm hours in eating, and some more garnering the distinct all-day smell of chlorine, and all with the goal of raising funds for The Haven which is an incredible charity that supports people impacted by breast cancer. This includes women, and men, who also get breast cancer.
In the build up to the marathon swim, they have been increasing their training volumes since January, and for the last few weeks have been swimming at least 50kms a week between the group. Most of the training has been done in the Serpentine as the water is colder than the indoor pools. Also there is no better place to start your day. Most recently, last Sunday, they were in Dover to complete a gruelling 1.5hr+1.5hr swim with an hour rest in between.
The relay team start their 'tide opening window' on Monday 22nd June; they will have a week when they will await the optimum swimming weather. Swimming such long distances hasn’t only been mind expanding. Rupert Nicholson added that “we have also been working on the weight gain to help keep us warm. Byron burger have been delivering to my office and Dominos text me on a daily basis as I am their best customer. Donuts are also very popular within the team!” It seems appropriate that there are two ‘donuts’ in Nicholson.
The English Channel is the 21 mile stretch of water that separates England and France. Many swimmers from all over the world consider The English Channel as the ‘Everest of Swims’. Each team member will have to swim over 4 miles, with water temperatures at between 10oc – 15oc.
The team have been training since January and have been taking weekly early morning dips in the Serpentine, (under the guidance of Sami Robertson who swam the Channel last year) which at times has been as cold as 5C. To put this in perspective the average bath water temperature is about 38C!
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The swim team who all work for Knight Frank include:
Kerry Cable, Baker Street, David Hall Baker Street, David Pacitti Baker Street, Rupert Nicholson Clapham.
Support team (People in blazers, not Speedos)
Sami ‘The Seal’ Robertson - Mentor and Solo channel swimmer 2014, Rosie Campbell - Support crew, Nick Adams - Mentor r Eddie Spelling - Pilot of the boat
The Serpentine Lido operated by the Royal Parks is open from 10:00 am - 6:00 pm (last entry 5:30pm) every day in June, July and August.Call 020 7706 3422 for further information and bookings
Yours swimmingly
