Thames Marathon 2023

Continuing the epic tale of her fundraising campaign for Aspire, the spinal injuries charity, Sue writes:

I did it! I swam 13km from Henley to Marlow on the Thames on Sunday 13 August 2023. The weather was better than forecast – mild but not too hot, cloudy with sunny spells. The water was cooler than many would have liked but fine for me – just as I like it.

We (my wonderful husband Phil came with me) left home at 5am to get to registration in Marlow by 6.30am. Then it was a case of getting swim ready – ie putting on the wetsuit before clambering aboard a vintage Routemaster bus for the ride to Henley and the start. It seemed quite a distance as the double-decker wended its way carefully through the country lanes. On arrival at Henley it was simply a case of walking down into the river and swimming across to the far side before heading down to Hambledon Lock, four kilometres away. This stretch felt good – a distance I can comfortably swim.

At Hambledon Lock we had to scramble up a steep muddy bank to exit the river, fortunately there were wonderful helpers there to grab us and pull us up! The volunteers had assembled a range of foods and drink for sustenance (including bananas, chocolate, water, electrolyte drinks). Suitably refreshed, to get back into the water we had to scramble down another very muddy bank hanging onto a rope!

Now for the serious swim – 5 kilometres – a distance I have swam many times this year, but not straight after swimming 4 kilometres! I had to dig deep towards the end of this stretch, especially since there were quite a few boats travelling in both directions, creating wash (waves) as they passed by. At Hurley Lock we had ladders to climb to exit the river. I paused for longer over the refreshments there because I was beginning to feel tired by then. By this stage I had swum further than ever before.

Just the home stretch to go, another four kilometres or so with Temple Lock approximately half way. At Temple Lock I paused for a conversation with the lock keeper and another swimmer whilst enjoying further refreshments before jumping back into the river to swim across the bottom of the weir and gain some benefit from the flow coming over it. There were more boats again on this stretch so it was hard work to keep going but nevertheless I made it and climbed up the ladder at Marlow four hours and 48 minutes after I started.

The next day my arms were a little tired but I was not nearly so achy as I thought I might be. Needless to say, I didn’t go for a swim that morning but I’ve been back in the water regularly since, sometimes at our local pool in Devizes and twice a week at my favourite open water venue, Lake 86 in the Cotswold Water Park.

Thank you very much to everyone who has sponsored me for Aspire. It’s not too late to contribute! Please visit my JustGiving fundraising page if you’d like to do so:

https://www.justgiving.com/page/sue-groom-1677864432333