Humber swim for charity
Cottingham Parks Health Club member Richard faced a gruelling swim for charity and tells us a bit about it here:
"I swam across the River Humber on Sunday 3rd July to raise money for Humber Rescue. I was supposed to swim on Sunday 19th June but the conditions were too rough that day so it was postponed.
I did most of my training for the swim in the pool and gym at Cottingham Parks, starting in January and with more open water training at Welton Waters closer to the swim date. I also had a couple of lessons with Paul the swimming instructor at Cottingham Parks which was really helpful.
It took about 1 hour and 15 minutes to complete the swim, which with the tides on the day the distance swam worked out to be about 2 miles.
Humber Rescue lifeboats took the 14 swimmers across the estuary from the Hessle lifeboat station to close to the Barton side and we swam back from there, going under the bridge as the tide came in and then (accidentally) as it went back out again, finishing back at the Hessle lifeboat station.
Humber Rescue is an independent charity, separate from the RNLI and funded entirely by donations, that supplies fast response search and rescue operations on the Humber Estuary. They cover approximately 500 square miles of water around the Humber. The Humber is one of the most unpredictable stretches of water in the world. Even the most experienced of navigators can get caught out by the shifting sandbanks and strong currents.
Next step is to perform a stand up comedy show about the swim during the Hull Comedy Festival (https://www.facebook.com/hullcomedy) in November, also to raise money for Humber Rescue."
