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Cath Pendleton
The Merthyr Mermaid
Ice Swimmer
Channel Swim 2018
As a young child, I always told my late Uncle Freddie that I would swim the English Channel. In October 2018 I achieved that childhood dream. I booked my slot 2 years previously. For training, I did many long-distance events and camps, plus long swims with swim buddies locally. The Channel was a massive challenge, taking 16 hours and 45 minutes to complete.
Motivation
People ask me if it's the hardest thing I've ever done. It was in terms of time, but not in terms of fear of failure. I did a training swim called Champion of Champions in Dover harbour the previous June, and that was the hardest thing I've done. It was just so choppy and I wasn't used to the conditions! By the time the Channel came around, I had the mindset of "chuck it at me", and also my sponsors were saying "get across the Channel, and we'll talk about Antarctica". I trained hard, as much as I could in the little time I had available. I swam the Channel on the Friday and was back in work on the Monday! My stubbornness got me across, and I raised a lot of money for charity too.
My Build Up Events:
One-Way Windermere, Ocean Walker Swim Camp, Infinity Hit The Wall Camp, Two-Way Solent Swim, BDLSA Champion of Champions, 4 person English Channel Relay, Activities Away - 1 mile on the hour for 12 hours Endurance Swim, Thames Marathon Swim, Aberdovey Swim, Big Welsh swim, Hurly Burley.
