On Saturday my family and I went up to Ponds Forge to watch the attempt to break the 100x100m relay world record. 100 swimmers (many of them Olympians) each swam 100m freestyle in a 25m pool (so four lengths each) in a relay, aiming to beat the record time held by a swim squad in Australia.
We went for two reasons. Firstly it was a good chance for me to go and visit Ponds Forge and have a look around before my own 10km swim at the end of March. I’m really glad we did this, as simple things like knowing where to park will be much easier now I’ve seen the lie of the land (we got lost twice searching for the car park on Saturday). Secondly the record attempt was part of a fundraising effort to raise money for leukaemia research.
As you can probably tell from the title of the post – they did it. They actually smashed it by over eight minutes, setting a new world record of 1 hour 29 minutes and 3 seconds.
The swim started off with Oliver Coleman – the ten year-old brother of the organiser Lewis Coleman. Even as a ten year-old, he still did 100m in about 1:20 (for perspective, I’d be delighted with 1:40 and probably wouldn’t be able to move my arms for a week if I hit 1:30!). Then the Olympians jumped in, with Lewis Coleman bringing us home as swimmer number 100.
All the swimmers having the briefing ahead of the swim – look carefully and you’ll see some Olympic medalists.
And here they are poolside for the team photo.
We were treated to some synchronised swimming before the main event.
I was actually really impressed with it – when you see it up close…
A swimmer diving in to start his leg
It’s all over and a really lovely moment between Oliver and Lewis Coleman.
You can still donate to the fundraising – go here: http://www.swim4leukaemia.com/
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