Owen's Great North Swim Giving Page

BREAKING NEWS: TUBBY MAN PLANNING TO SWIM A LONG WAY IN A LAKE IN AID OF CANCER RESEARCH UK!!! I'm lucky in that I have never had cancer, and that although both of my parents have had it (one of them twice), they have both beaten it and are still here! The work and research that was done into Cancer before their diagnosis no doubt is a big part of the reason they were both able to beat it, and it is important that this research continues so that more people can survive a cancer diagnosis. Cancer affects so many people who I know, and doubtless will affect people you know, which is why I’m raising money right now for Cancer Research UK. I will be taking part in the Great North Swim in Windermere in the Lake District, doing the 2 mile distance on Sunday 9th June 2019. To put it into context, this is the equivalent of swimming 130 lengths of a 25 metre swimming pool, only with no side to push off from every 25 meters, more waves, much colder water, less visibility, in a wetsuit, with lots of other people all swimming on top of you, and with no convenient blue line on the bottom to keep you going in a straight line. Oh, and more fish. Hopefully I won't be mistaken for a lost manatee and relocated to the Gulf of Mexico (the warm weather may be nicer, but the commute to work in Lancaster from there would be a bind). It's fair to say until recently, over the past few years I have not exactly concentrated on my fitness, so this will definitely be a big challenge! Most of my pool swimming has been while on holidays while holding some kind of beverage, and my open water swimming experience over the past 20 years amounts to about half an hour floating in a life jacket after falling off a raft I helped to build in a work team building event. I wasn't even floating very fast, or very far. I was also wearing a pirate costume on top of my wetsuit which may have helped to keep me warmer. I am going to have to do a lot of training to make sure I am ready for the event, and possibly even visit a lake to make sure I know what to expect on the day. I'll also need to buy a wetsuit. To keep me in good spirits and motivated during my training and the event itself, please give whatever you can by donating on my page for this very good cause! Every donation is gratefully received and will really help people to bring forward the day when all cancers are cured!