16th June 2019
Barry woman takes on channel swim challenge – British Heart Foundation
Seven friends and colleagues are swimming the English Channel for the first time to raise vital funds for British Heart Foundation research.
Joanne Oliver from Rhoose, Barry, and six other women will swim the gruelling 21 mile (32km) route in a relay format, setting out from near Dover on September 9th and finishing near Calais. The swimmers will each swim for an hour in turn under strict rules which don’t allow team members to make physical contact during the relay, be in the sea at the same time or wear wetsuits.
Joanne is Health Service Lead at BHF Cymru and has been inspired to take up the challenge because of a history of heart disease in her family.
Joanne explains: “I’ve lost both my parents to heart disease, my dad just last year. My mum loved the sea and swam a lot to keep fit. Every year our family holiday would be camping near a beach so we could swim in the sea every day. I’ve always been fascinated and inspired by the Channel Swim challenge as it’s so physically and mentally demanding. I enjoy swimming, but usually in my local leisure pool and not out in the open sea.
“14 years ago I worked as a heart failure nurse in Cardiff and Vale UHB. My role was initially funded by the BHF and was one of first specialist heart failure nurses to be established within Wales at the time. I now work for BHF Cymru leading a team working across Wales with health boards to help improve the treatment and care of people living with heart and circulatory disease and so I know how important raising money for vital research is.”
Six other women form the team of seven taking on the gruelling challenge. Sally Hughes and Lynne Ruddick are colleagues of Joanne and also work for the BHF. They are being joined by Rachel Owen, a senior cardiac nurse, from Radyr in Cardiff, Sian Hughes, a palliative care and heart failure specialist nurse, from Whitchurch, Cardiff; Dr Rhian Fuge, a haematologist from Swansea; and Emma Halcox a supermarket assistant also from Swansea.
Emma’s husband is a consultant cardiologist in Swansea and completed a relay challenge swim across the channel in 2016, and has inspired and advised the women for their training regime.
The English Channel is a unique and demanding swim, considered by many to be the ultimate long distance challenge. Swimmers have to be prepared for the many variable conditions including cold water temperatures, wind and high waves.
The swimming experience differs considerably among the women. Three have never swum in open water until they started training for this event. The other four have some open water swimming experience, but have always worn wetsuits and the Channel swim challenge only permits participants to wear swimsuits.
Training is well underway with two of the team taking swimming lessons to improve their technique and all practicing breathing techniques needed for sea swimming. Joanne, Rachel and Sian train together in the sea at Barry when they can and all seven plan to meet for regular sea swims as the weather gets warmer.
Joanne continues: “The biggest challenge for us will be the cold. Swimming across the channel in just a swimsuit, getting used to the waves, salt water, seaweed and other debris as well as potential sea sickness. The physical effort taking it in turns to swim for an hour each is going to be incredibly difficult, but we are determined to do it.
“Knowing that I am giving something back to the charity that has supported me and my family in many ways over the past 15 years is a real driver for me, and when we’ve finally completed the swim it will be such an amazing achievement for all of us.”
To donate to Joanne’s fundraising visit her JustGiving page here: https://www.justgiving.com/BHFCymruChannelRelaySwim
