As a kid, I did a fair bit of swimming. My first memory of swimming lessons involved the instructor taking my mum to one side and saying "Err, Mrs Eek, your daughter seems to have more than her fair share of talent in the pool" as I effortlessly swam back and forth through the water while the other kids could barely do doggie paddle.
Aged about 9 or 10, I signed up to a small swimming club and then a couple of years later joined a larger club, Tigersharks, in Swindon, which had a full-time professional coach and was one of the best teams in the South West. I was soon in the top squad and from the age of 13 to 18 would spend upwards of 10 hours a week in the pool, competing at national level in sprint freestyle events and racing at the European and Commonwealth Trials.
Although I have never been a brash or arrogant person, my years of swimming at elite level have led me to always be quietly confident in my aquatic abilities and this is something I have certainly enjoyed carrying with me since getting involved in triathlon two years ago.
However, after signing up for the Noosa 1000 Ocean Swim today, I can honestly tell you that for the first time in my life I felt very nervous about a swim race!
After handing over my 35 bucks and signing on the dotted line there was no way I could go back and Little Ozzer was jumping about with excitement at the thought of me tearing up the swim, but as soon as we stepped onto the beach and I saw the huge waves crashing in I did a bit of a double take. I was going to have to swim through that?! Yikes!
Fervently trying to hide my nerves I went off and put my kit on and said to Oz I ought to get in and warm up before kick off. Off I go into the ocean with the surf crashing down and I'd barely got a few metres in before I was literally knocked off my feet. "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger" I kept telling myself and kept battling through the giant waves - and all this was 'warm up'.
Those who have been around me pre-race know I'm never at the start line on time so I was eager to make sure I didn't repeat my favourite mistake and turned around after a few minutes to make it back to shore ready for the start. The waves were getting no smaller though and before I knew it I was actually being flipped 360 through the surf. At one point I realised I was actually just spinning around, my head near the sea bed and my feet in the air doing handstands through the water - nothing like swimming in the Dragon! This was like being in the washing machine on ultra spin!
When I finally surfaced I realised my goggles had been whisked off by the sheer force of the waves so I bobbed about for a bit trying to remember my name, where I was and more importantly where my fave race goggles were. Miraculously I found them, found Oz on the shore (who was trying not to laugh too much) and then went down to the start.
The gun had soon gone off and before I knew it I was getting barged and battered by the Aussie chicks all racing across the beach and into the surf. We were all diving through the waves attempting to get through them in the line of least resistance but I soon realised there were a lot of girls here who are surf dudes and just knew how to cut through the crashing surf. There was barely any swimming involved here - it was more a case of who could ride the waves best, swallow the least water and not get too battered by the ocean. What was really ace was the fact you got to run onto the beach and back out into the ocean at the halfway point, at which point Ozzer was yelling at me "C'mon Eek!". I got back in, made up some places and was soon racing home towards the finish line, which was about 50m up the beach. As you'll see from the picture, as I was battling through the waves for the final time I realised I had a girl right on my shoulder. "Chinatown", I thought (that one's for H!), and just outsprinted her up the beach to the line.
I well and truly got my butt kicked - not just by at least a handful of other chicks, but by the ocean - an untameable beast - yet still had a totally brilliant time. Definitely one to remember!
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