Calm after the Storm

Contrary to the saying "calm before the storm" ... This morning's atmosphere at the Lido was more like the calm after the storm !

The weekend at the Lido had been action packed.

Saturday we had the 103 length challenge in celebration of 103 years of the Lido and on Sunday a mini triathlon.

I took part in the 103 and teamed up with Jim, John, Kevin and Mark - we all swam to make up 103 laps - it was a gloriously sunny afternoon water temperature around 16 Celsius - Nine teams swam at the same time - lane 10 was put aside for the solo swimmers.

Some teams were smaller some had more swimmers in them. And some brave souls took on the challenge head on and swam the entire 103 length (which is 10300 yards) solo, all by themselves!

I will have to find out all the names of those who succeeded ... pretty amazing to say the least.

I know of one : Lucy Scott-Petrie. who wasn't sure she'd manage .. and did - Lucy is an amazing swimmer. She has trained to swim the Channel - and tried it twice - last year the tide was against her and she swam 2 hours on the spot before she was dragged out ... not a pleasant experience . however, she never gave up - set her goal for this year. She was training so hard - This year she had the misfortune to get unconscious and again was pulled out - Swimming the Channel really is a very tough challenge - certainly not for the faint hearted. I felt sorry for Lucy .. and so happy when I found out this morning that she had completed the 10,300 yards! That's 5.85 miles or 9.418 Kilometers!

I left the Lido around 4.15 pm on Saturday - I had my work cut out that day and had to rush home.

Sunday, I only made it to the Lido after 2pm - there were quite a few people basking in the sun - catching the last Lido summer time rays - the Lido will close to the public from September 30th - but fortunately reopen for SLSC members seamlessly the very next day.

Lots of kids braved the water, splashed around ... which made it much choppier than in the morning when the water is more as flat as a pancake and swimming seems so effortless.

When I arrived this morning at 8am there were 3 people in the pool. I could barely wait to get in. The temperature had dropped down to 15 Celsius due to a cold night but, the feeling was pure delight! The cool gliding sensation was back and at the end of 10 length a hot shower was in order.

Others had another reward waiting for them!