Lllandudno Sea Swim by Helen Minshall

Hi A&T members

I wanted to report back to you how much I really enjoyed today’s Lllandudno Sea Swim. It was a really big challenge for me, and one I’d recommend to anyone who wants to try something different. After getting the “Tri” bug recently, I wanted to try an open water swim – it was my first competitive open water swim for 30 years, and it was a fantastic experience! The event was really well organised, into 3 waves of swimmers. The first wave started at 11am. I was in the middle wave, starting at 11.40. This was perfect, as I was able to watch the first wave go out, and see what happened. The sea was really murky and I couldn’t see much, but I was surprised not to feel cold in my new wetsuit. The hardest part of the race was sticking to the course and trying not to get kicked in the face and bashed to a pulp by other swimmers, especially at the start. I was really surprised by my time – 38.44! This was a lot faster than I was expecting, especially in open water. (I’m used to swimming a gentle mile each morning in 40 minutes at David Lloyd…). The only downside was that my wetsuit rubbed my neck so bad that it’s blistered to hell now – I need to get some of that body lube stuff I think! However, I was delighted when I looked at the full results and saw that I was 23^rd overall in the women’s event, but I came 3^rd in my age group! It’s given me a real lift, and I’ve now entered for the Llandudno Sea Triathlon on 17^th July, and the Coniston Lake Swim on 14^th August. Bring em on!!! Are any other club members doing these? Helen x