GregInTheWater
GLASGOW OPEN WATER SWIMMING COACH
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In May we headed to Corfu, a Greek island in the Ionian Sea for a well deserved break in the sun. Before I moved to Scotland I took the sun for granted, knowing it would shine in my native land down under more often than not. I would hide from it in the long summer from October to March, only venturing outdoors when it was absolutely necessary to compete or commute. After… Read More
I like to go for a swim in a local loch on special days, such as the summer solstice. For 21 June 2017 a short drive to Duck Bay just near Cameron House on the eastern shore of Loch Lomond for the 4am start time. I still find it incredible to live in a place where it really does not get fully dark in mid-summer. A group of us decided to… Read More
The Gulf of Corryvreckan is a body of water that separates the islands of Jura and Scarba off the west coast of Scotland. Most bodies of water are quite tame, but this one is famous for its treacherous whirlpool, which is the third largest whirlpool on the planet. When the spring tide runs, this whirlpool can be heard up to 10km away, and boats are advised to stay away.It is the place… Read More
The International Ice Swimming Association were holding the 2017 Great British Ice Swimming Championships in the waters of Loch Lomond in early February 2017. Our group of swimmers decided to enter, but at the time of the close of entries I had not progressed my training enough, so limited my entry to the 50m sprint. Others were entered in the 1km, 500m and 200m events. The rules were simple, swim with one… Read More
The year 2016 in review. I used to do an annual review talking about the 20 or so open water swim events I had competed in. But 2016 was different, because even though I swam in nine events, the highlights were definitely what is called wild swimming in the UK. This involves just getting in the water and swimming: and we are blessed with so many choices here in Scotland. But first… Read More
A week after our grand adventure up Loch Tay, it was time for some relaxing swimming in warm water. A Four of us ventured out to Greece to swim on a Swimtrek trip on the island of Milos. The island is located in the Aegean Sea between Athens and Crete. After making it through the delights of a Scottish summer we were looking forward to a week of sun and warm… Read More
The idea of a long swim had been on our minds for a few months, especially after our swim down Loch Rannoch in September 2015. We had examined maps of Scotland trying to find a loch that was longer than Loch Rannoch, but still not too far from Glasgow. In the end we decided on Loch Tay, which is a loch about 23 km long ( or 14.5 miles), and around 1… Read More
The weekend after the Great Scottish Swim, it was a trip to the Lakes District in England for the annual Coniston End to End event. This race is one of the more popular events held on Coniston Water over a distance of 5.25 miles (8.5km), from one end of the lake to the other. The lake is famous for the world water speed record attempts (successful and otherwise) held in the 1960s…. Read More
The Great Scottish Swim returned for their annual swim at Balloch on the shores of Loch Lomond on the weekend after the Pier to Pub swim. This year they had introduced a 10km swim event on the Friday afternoon, and I entered during the winter based on the plans to make each lap 2.5km. However, as the event got closer, it became clear that the 10km event would use the standard course,… Read More
I had been looking for some events to undertake as part of my preparation for the 10 mile swim at the end of September. I found an event at Coniston on the wonderful openwaterswimevents website (www.openwaterswimevents.com) to be held on 16 August. This was the third swim of the season hosted by Epic Events at various lakes in the Lakes District in North West England. They also do events earlier in… Read More
GregInTheWater 