Before the pandemic, I was all geared up to swim the Bristol Channel from Penarth to Clevedon this summer, to raise much-needed funds for an amazing charity, Breast Cancer Now.
My mum has volunteered for the charity for years and I have completed a number of activities to raise money for it, including running a marathon dressed as a snail, carrying a 14ft giant for 55 miles and most recently, running the equivalent of a marathon in my back garden during lockdown, so far raising £2,500.
I’m known for crazy fundraising endeavours under my pseudonym Mr Y the Teacher Guy – and this was no exception. It highlights some of Cardiff Met’s amazing values in terms of community engagement, with a team of staff from across the University pulling together for a worthy cause – including Rhys Jones and Dr Zach Gould, who helped with my coaching and training.
Having completed my back garden marathon in the spring, I was already pondering what to do next. As you’re probably aware, the charity sector is suffering immensely, with revenue generation affected by the cancellation of so many fundraising events.
Unfortunately, we were not allowed to launch a support boat across the Channel as planned – so myself and a couple of mates decided to swim the equivalent distance at Canada Lake instead (for those who don’t know, that’s actually in Creigiau, Cardiff... not North America!).
We were disappointed not to be able to take on the Channel with its raging currents and surging tides; however, the lake can be just as treacherous with its territorial swans and hungry fishermen! Training during lockdown wasn’t ideal, with swimming pools closed and our bath tubs only so big, but the lake owner assured me there were some downhill sections (I wasn’t sure whether he was taking the mickey but I gave him the benefit of the doubt!)
On the morning of Sunday, August 1 I was joined by the Dirty Vegan Matt Pritchard, who jumped at the chance to take part without even asking the distance (it’s about 11 miles, for the record) and my good mate Stu Nicklin. Cheering us on were plenty of Cardiff Met supporters as well as family and friends.
The swim was expected to take a minimum of six hours. In the end, we completed the thirty 600-metre laps in a time of 5 hours and 34 minutes. It was tough but I enjoyed the regular food stops – by the end it had turned into a floating buffet! We also enjoyed some great support from friends, family and the charity on the banks of the lake; a few ducks even joined us on one lap.
We were filmed by Gethin Stedman, a student from our Sports Broadcasting course who recorded our adventure as part of a documentary he’s producing for his final thesis in January, which helped with motivation.
The hardest laps were the final two; we used a very scientific method to count laps (read: wiping each one off on a big whiteboard at the side of the lake) and those last two seemed to take ages. Afterwards, we celebrated with a few beers and as a family headed away to West Wales for a break – attempting to avoid any lakes or swimming areas for at least a week!