Brave attempt at ‘brutal’ epic swim challenge
A 44-YEAR-OLD physiotherapist, who has worked at Loughborough Hospital for over a decade, took on a 14-hour swim for charity in temperatures as low as 12 degrees but unfortunately had to give up at the tenth hour.
On Saturday, August 12, Neil Meadows took part in the BLDSA Two Way Windermere Championship - which saw him attempt to travel from Ambleside to Fell Foot and back again.
Neil, who has worked in the MSK outpatients department at Loughborough Hospital for 11 years, started the race at 5pm but had to retire at 3am after 16 miles and 10 hours.
Neil, who is a member of Loughborough Swimming Club Masters Squad, had to swim with no wet suit and relied on a support boat to throw him food and drink.
Neil, of Frisby on the Wreake, said: “It was not my night. It was a beautiful clear night, with the added bonus of a meteor shower for the crew, but it meant a brutally cold night for the swimmers.
“I was told water temperatures were 12 degrees in places, with the air much less. Only five of 10 swimmers finished.
“The swim took me to places physically and mentally I’d never been. Not completing the swim was gutting, but it was the right decision.
“I spent the next nine hours vomiting until a kindly doctor gave me an anti-sickness injection. Had I carried on swimming things would have been much worse for me.
“None of this would have happened without my crew Paul Meadows, Stuart Burgess Lowe, and Phillip Burgess.
“I learned so much and will be back for 2019, stronger and better for the experience.”
Sponsor money is to go to Parkin- son’s UK, a charity personal to Neil as his dad was diagnosed with the disease last year, and The Silver Line.
Neil said: “Although not a total success, I have managed to raise around £1,000. So I am delighted to have done some good.”
Neil’s JustGiving page is still open at uk.virginmoneygiving.com/ NeilMeadows