And So The Madness Begins

So here we are.  Whether wrapped up after a winter swim, or basking in the sunshine - the Sea Witches feel at their best near the water!  As you can see - we are all very smiley after a lovely dip in the ocean :)

There will be a more official picture soon, but for the moment these two show all the Witches.  Top pic from left: Jo Fotheringham (Super Witch), Gaynor Nevitt (Wonder Witch), Elanor McBay (Stitch Witch), Katrina Weller (Kit Witch). Bottom pic from left: Juliet Hill (Potion Witch), Gaynor Nevitt, Elanor McBay, Susanne Masters (Gin Witch).

We are just starting out on this journey towards swimming from Dover to France as a six woman relay team.  We have swum together for some time already, but now the real training starts.  It's not just a dip and a laugh anymore, we need to put serious hours training in each week both in the sea or pool and on land to get us ultra fit and ready for the challenge.  Our boat is booked for August 2016, and the countdown has started.

Of course we couldn't do this without some wonderful support.  We have very experienced mentors; Ali Budynkiewicz and Mark Vides; coach Barry Alldrick; reserves Zoe and Linda; and sock girl Holly (who's job involves a lot more than socks!).  Then there is the team on SUVA - our boat, and also all our friends from Just Swim who have done this before us and will no doubt help and support us through all the training with tips and kind words (or they may just point and laugh).  This truly is a team and we are all looking forward to working together.  And even outside of the team, there will be family and friends offering their support too.  We couldn't do it without them all!

All the Witches are collecting for charities personal to each of us which we will tell you all about in the next post.  We will be fundraising over the next two years and there will be more than one way to help us I'm sure.  From Halloween parties to craft sales, swim events to simply visiting our JustGiving pages.  Every little bit of help will be very much appreciated both by us and by the good causes we support.

For now our mission for the rest of 2014 is two hours swimming and two hours cardio work each week.  This figure may seem small to start with, but we will build up gradually to avoid injury and also to ease the extra time needed for training into our busy lives.

Hope you will visit regularly to keep up with our progress, as we improve our swimming technique, fitness and speed through the water.  And perhaps we can inspire a few of you to get out there and enjoy the odd bit of swimming too.