The Village Hotel in Elstree was the recent venue for our annual Swim Celebration dinner, a chance for open water swimmers to ditch the lycra and look back on another record-breaking year at Aspire which has seen nearly a quarter of a million pounds raised to support people with Spinal Cord Injury from open water swimming.  This year seven relay teams successfully crossed the Channel and three people swam it solo. 57 people crossed the Solent, as well as teams completing relays on Loch Ness and Loch Lomond and others enjoying a slightly different view of the English countryside in the River Arun.

Our guest speaker and prize giver for the evening was double world open water champion and Beijing silver medallist, Keri-anne Payne, who gave a fascinating insight in to what goes through the mind of elite athletes prior to and during competition as well as pointing out that jellyfish, even after they have been chopped up by boat propellers can still sting. Better to know that after swimming than before!

2019 is the tenth anniversary of open water swim events at Aspire and we are already busy planning for next year with more Channel relay teams than ever before as well as expanded Solent swims.

With thanks to Victoria Creer for the photography

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