Dover July 2018....3rd Aspire Training Weekend

After hooking up with my Swim Buddy Ruth and negotiating a horrendously busy M25 in 30 degree heat we finally made it to Dover by about 10.30pm on the Friday night. Knowing we had an early start on the beach on Saturday morning we tried to get as much sleep as possible.

6 swims over 26 hours, nearly 16km; in the dark, at sunrise and amongst some nasty stinging jellyfish (who knew that the zinc in sudocreme is the perfect antidote!). Boy were they right that this would be the toughest one of them all. Excellent preparation though and thankfully pleasant air and sea temperatures. I pushed myself, like I'll have to when it's the real deal.

We loved our new team kit, kindly sponsored by some fab people and companies, who we're REALLY grateful to! Once again thank you Sean Buller - SAB Consultancy, Ian Woods - Westgate Glass and Mirror Company Ltd, Anna Higo and Louise Grant - Physiocure, James Hunter & Lee Akers - Studio Kaoite, Rob Abiss - RCA Fitness and Martin & Jen Hood - Platinum Independent Financial Services.

Hammerhead Sharks Relay Team

The excess funds has been split between the individual team members fundraising pages....all going to a great cause!

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My Channel Challenge

Welcome to my new Blog! Where I keep everyone up-to-date about progress towards completing my latest challenge. Fundraising link https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/victoria-gilbert2 Those of you who know me will already know I like a Challenge. Some more welcome than others though. One such Challenge, that sadly wasn’t chosen but needed to be faced head on, was the diagnosis of aggressive Stage III breast cancer is December 2016 (you can read more about that Challenge here ) Shortly before the diagnosis I had completed a pool swim over 12 weeks that was equivalent to the distance across the English Channel i.e. 22 miles.

Poole

It was great to be able to couple another medical appointment with a swim at the end of last week! Whilst attending appointments at the Limb Fitting Centre in Ringwood Hampshire, I managed to hook up with a swimming group in Poole, Dorset which is only half an hour's drive away. All courtesy of the wonderful Sally Bird who coordinates 'Beyond the Blue Swimming Group' at Shore Beach. She went above and beyond and couldn't have made me feel more welcome and it was very much appreciated! You can see her on crutches duty below. The sun was cracking the flags and the sea was unbelievably clear with barely a rock or stone in sight! I swam firstly with triathlete Jenny Campbell Trayford then met up with Kirstie Foweraker, who swam an Aspire Channel Relay last summer. About 1.5km along the coast and back again.

My Channel Challenge

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