Danni - Open Water Super Star E-mail
You don't see her very often at the pool but Danni has been flying in the British Long Distance championships. Race reports for Danni Pryor by her coach, team manager and transport consultant aka Dad Champion of Champions – BLDSA event
Location – Dover Harbour
Date 19/6/10
Conditions – sea temp 13.6 c - air temp 15 c – wind NE 15 to 20 mph.

This is a sea race held in Dover harbour for seriously masochistic swimmers.
To be the champion of champions you have to swim 5 then 3 and finally 1 mile. Making a total of 9 miles. The lowest aggregate time for all three swims is the Champion. - Simples!

The start time of each distance is set from the beginning of the first swim. So the faster you swim the more rest and recovery you get before the next immersion.

The start of the 5miles (5 laps of the course) was at 9.30 am with the 3 mile scheduled for 1.30pm and then the 1 mile some time around 5pm.

The rules of this race and all races run by the British long distance swimming association are one standard swimming costume, one hat and goggles. No wetsuits or technical swim wear here. So you need to have trained in the sea for at least a month or two before this event. This gives you time to find out if you can hack in freezing cold water.

Danni was second in last years race mainly due to the fact she lost her feeding gels on the first lap of the 5 mile swim and blew up as a result. Although there was only a couple of minutes in it at the end of the three swims.

This year I decided to feed her a few gels from a canoe on the 5 mile only.
She nearly dropped out of this race due to problems in training with the cold having not completed a 2 hour swim with the very cold water temperature in May and June. However, racing always masks any pain and I was sure providing Danni with the feeds she would get round in contention.

The 5 mile proved to be decisive with a fast time under 2 hours. Danni was able to draft the top men to break up the pack and sprint to a 30 second lead over her nearest rival. Super recovery power with the right calorie input enabled her to press home her advantage in the 3 and 1 mile. Although the course got bigger as the day went on due to the strong wind blowing the buoys apart. Therefore the 3 and 1 mile seemed more like 4 and 2!

Total finish time 3 hrs 49 minutes 8 seconds.

Sea Horse challenge swim.
Location – Studland bay Dorset
Date – 27/6/10
Conditions – sea temp 17 c - air temp 30 c  - wind 0 mph

This was a new event over a 3.8 k distance. Danni was doing this as a prelude to the southwest 10 k & 5 k open water championships a week later which is just down the road in Weymouth.

The venue for this race is a beautiful white sand beach opposite sandbanks in Bournemouth.

Only 100 entries were available, don’t know why as this could have held twice this.
The organisers made a few mistakes with the course as it seemed a very long 3.8 k with small “pink” buoys. So navigation was a touch difficult. However I’m sure this will be put right next year.

The water is gin clear here so you might spot a sea horse or two so I’m told.
Well Danni didn’t hang around to do any marine research, competing in the non wetsuit catergy she eased passed all but two of the men who start 2 minutes ahead of the ladies to win in a time of 55 minutes.

Just one fly in the ointment, if you take your wife and kids to this one beware, unless you are par-taking in naked triathlon a stroll up the beach to follow the race takes you through a Naturalist beach area. So you’ll need to wear some very dark sunglasses and hold on to your water bottle tight as this can be a little enlightening on a Sunday morning.


Results and details for both races here