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#roadworks and a #train observed from the #JubileeRiver #slough #m4 #roadclosure #train #class165 #turbo #thamesturbo https://www.instagram.com/p/CMJZJ-hCssH/?igshid=12904nzzezcai

#roadworks #train #jubileeriver #slough #m4 #roadclosure #class165 #turbo #thamesturbo

#JubileeRiver #DJI #Mavic #MavicPro #DJIMavicPro #dronephotography (at Slough) https://www.instagram.com/p/CMIYJlPLXdi/?igshid=ionqf99m6xjx

#jubileeriver #dji #mavic #mavicpro #djimavicpro #dronephotography

Wild flowers. #flowers #wildflowers #meadowflowers #jubileeriver #dorney #buckinghamshire #england (at Jubilee River) https://www.instagram.com/p/CBqwmI2MjQt/?igshid=1sx5t2f8qfi0i

#flowers #wildflowers #meadowflowers #jubileeriver #dorney #buckinghamshire #england

The Jubilee River 10k

“Let’s do a swim relay!”

The logistics were a little bit more complicated and involved a 5am start, a long bus journey past people still very much enjoying Saturday night, a train and then a bus from race HQ, 6 miles out to the race start.

We arrived on the banks of the Jubilee River in good spirits (full of coffee) and cheered the first wave off on their way. After our briefing, we bundled Helen into her wetsuit as the air temperature started to rise, and winced with her as she put on a brave face upon entering the ‘refreshing’ water.

As a relay team, the three land-bound members would walk alongside the swimmers for the most part, but there was a slightly hairy moment when we were directed onto a footpath seemingly away from the river and toward the main road, and we realised that the river had a bit of current to it, so our swimmers were travelling slightly faster than anticipated. As I was swimming the 3.5k second leg, and wasn’t in my wetsuit yet, I put in a bit of a trot to make sure Helen didn’t get to the changeover point ahead of me!

As Helen clambered victoriously up the banks, we were ready for her! Changeover completed in true dramatic fashion (see above), I confidently and speedily headed for what I thought was the entry point...only it wasn’t. A 3 minute hobble over a stony footpath later, and I was in! After a sweaty wrestle trying to get into my wetsuit in record time, the cold water was quite refreshing and I merrily set off, using a fellow swimmer on the horizon with a large orange tow float as something to sight. Sighting in a river is tricky as it bends, but I was doing OK, until I passed the swimmer... So I used the bridge. And then the next bridge, and the next bridge and the....(you get the idea).

I have never done a point to point race before in the water, and 2 things struck me in particular:

1) You have no idea how long you’ve been in the water. I was wearing my watch but I didn’t want to look at it because I really didn’t want to stop. Also I was worried that as I was starting to feel a bit fatigued, if I looked at it and saw that I had only covered 400m, that might be less than motivational. In order to keep pushing forewards, I used a tactic that never works in running races, but seems to in swimming - I started using the people ahead of me in the water as targets, trying to reach and pass them one at a time.

2) Swimming under footbridges is really fun. Swimming under motorway bridges is less so.

I looked up (not really paying attention to what was ahead of me as usual) and suddenly and I saw the weir a hundred meters ahead. These were the changeover points and the feed stations for the swimmers tackling the 10k as a whole (as mentioned in the briefing, “It might look like fun, but no, you cannot body surf over the weirs....”). Try as I might, I couldn’t see the exit point from the water, and it appeared that the swimmers ahead of me were also having trouble. There was a lot of breast stroke in those final few meters, and bobbing heads, trying to see if we’d missed it somewhere. It wasn’t until we were practically ON the weir itself that the flag came into view on the far right, well hidden behind some trees, and I gracefully beached myself on the dirt and had to be hauled upright. I legged it up the steps, like a mud sodden Bambi, and stood there grinning with numb cheeks, cold toes and a silt beard saying something like, “I love rivers...” over and over again.

Luckily Helen was there to listen to me chatter away whilst I got changed and we meandered down the banks alongside Krista who had taken to the water, and behind Laura who was charging ahead to get ready to bring us home on the final leg.

We all made it to the finish to cheer Laura up the bank at the end of her leg, and the sun shone down on us as we met up with friends who had tackled the race in it’s entirely, and snacked on a well deserved picnic!

Excellent company, swimming and organisation, (helped by wonderful weather) made for a really ace day! I might have said something about signing up for the whole 10k next year, but that may have just been the banana bread and cheese straws talking...!