In March 2019, I participated in the Red Bull Neptune Steps event in Glasgow. Along with 600 participants, I dived in in the dark and cold waters of the Forth and Clyde canal, swam 420 meters up the canal and climb over 7 obstacles, one at each of the lock gates. I had my eyes on this event for 2 years, and in 2019, I took the icy plunge.
This is why you should sign-up for the 2020 edition and tips to not only survive it but enjoy this truly epic event…
If you ever envied Baloo from The Jungle Book, floating downstream a river effortlessly, the River Adur swim in England is for you! The swim is a wetsuit legal (even mandatory!), tide assisted, salty 5km event, making it one of your fastest 5km you will ever swim. It makes it also a perfect first event for those you have swum a few times outdoors but are looking to cover a bit more distance.
It is always more fun to swim with friends. To celebrate the end of the season, we were a few members of our swim club to join that day in Shoreham-by-Sea, on the south coast of the UK. Our group represented mix experiences and abilities in term of swimming. Though we were all confident swimmers or triathletes, several did their first river swim that day while some others were open water swimming veterans. For me, it was the occasion to come back to river swim after my fantastic experience at the Dart 10km Marathon Swim.
“Excuse me, can I ask what is going on here? You all have very strange outfits?” enquired an old lady walking her dog. She was right: hundreds of people, wearing trainers, neoprene shorty wetsuits, swim caps and googles was a disturbing sight at 8.00am on a Sunday morning. We were all getting ready to start the Authieman swimrun. Originally from Sweden, swimrun is one of the fastest growing outdoor endurance sports. Participants complete a course alternating running and open water swimming section. As a person who loves both sports I had to give it a go. And who better to do it with me than with my sister?
It is always fun at the beginning of the year to set new goals and look at adventures, challenges or goals you would like to complete.
After a 2018 sport season cut short due to injury (a sprained ankle in June that spiralled into tendon inflammation and took months to heal), I am excited to leave the past behind and try new things, as well as doing more of the things are like.
This is what I have in the calendar for now:
I had my eyes set on this event since last year but didn’t sign-up as I realised I needed proper training. The race is a short swim sprint in cold water (you swim in a canal in Scotland on the first week-end of Spring after all). It is only 450m but the catch is that you have to pass a serie of ladders, ropes and climbing walls. Oh and the water will probably be somewhere between 3C and 7C
It is all about cold water training as well as upper body strength, definitely an event to challenge me – I am not even fully sure I can complete it!
Objective: cross the finish line! 🙂 COMPLETED
Living in London and being from France, this one seems like an no brainer. The plan is to cycle via Dover and to pass my home town of Saint-Omer in the north of France.
I am excited about making it from Big Ben to the Eiffel Tower just by the power of my legs. The real test is to be able to ride more than 6h day after day but still being able to enjoy it! Needless to say, we are taking the Eurostar back! 😀
Objective: Making it to Paris! You can read all about this adventure here (spoiler: I made it Paris!).
Half Ironman – Swim 1.9km, Bike 90km and Run 21km.
My first half ironman completed last year left me with an unachieved taste. Yes, I did finish but I was unable to run and had to walk the full half marathon due to a sprained ankle just 3 weeks before the event.
Total finish time in 2018: 7h24min.
This year’s objective: run the half marathon… and come back with a PB (Personal Best) and maybe even a sub 6h finish!
Excited to try out the swimrun discipline with a race on the coast of the English Channel, in the north of France. In total, we will be expected to run a total of 15km and swim 3km but with alternating run-swim-run-swim. You swim in your running shoes and run in your wetsuit. Excited to share this with my sister and enjoy the nice backdrop of the beaches of the north of France!
Objective: Have fun!
And… that’s it… ! well at least for now ;-D
When it is still dark outside, frost covers the ground and the air temperature is a mere 2C, I get on my bike to reach Tooting Bec Lido. I strip down to my swimming costume and slowly descend the stairs to immerse myself into the cold waters of the unheated outdoor pool. Across the country and even across the globes, there are hundreds of thousands doing the same, in pools, rivers, lakes or in the ocean.
Who would voluntary swim into waters as cold as 2C/35F when your whole body screams to get out, only to emerge a few minutes later with the biggest smile on their face? Surely they must be nuts?
1600 swimmers took part in the 2017 Dart 10k. Here: the start in Totnes
A million years back, during the last ice age, the river found its way in the rocks, creating the Gorges du Verdon.
You can hear them from far, way before you can get a glimpse of them. A constant throb, deafening. More than 1.700 m3/second. More than 270 falls spread over 2.700m (almost 2 miles) in a semi circular shape. Iguazu Falls are a gigantic nature wonder. At the border of Brazil and Argentina, the falls have everything to get on every traveller’s bucket list. Here are my tips to get the best out of your visit to the cataracts.
“Did you say sharks?”
I never thought I would ever swim with sharks. I recently took my diving open water certificate, but I didn´t really feel at my ease, so I started to accept that I will never see sharks and other sea turtles in wildlife. So when the sales guy from the agency talked about seeing sharks during a snorkelling session in Galapagos, I was suspicious. Was it one of his sales trick?