24 HOURS IN HELL
Paul Smith swam a mile on the hour for 24 hours at the 100% Swimming 24-Hour Endurance Swim
Paul Smith
MAIN: Swimmers enter the water for their first mile. TOP: Paul Fowler, centre, organiser of the swim
Twenty-four-hour swims are like fairground rides. They seem like a good idea when you sign up, but once you start, there’s no stepping off. The rhythm is relentless. If you sign up for 24 hours in hell, don’t be surprised when that’s what you get.
The swim is Paul Fowler’s 100% Swimming 24-Hour Endurance Swim – a mile every hour on the hour with whatever is left over for recovery. It takes place over or close to the Solstice to take advantage of the shortest night. You can swim it as a relay or as a soloist. I am swimming it as a soloist.
By the time I arrive at the venue, it’s nearly four o’clock in the afternoon, three hours to kick-off, and most of the other swimmers are already there and setting up camp. I scope the lake from the wooden balcony area with Louise and Roger, my duo of support buddies. I have swum here a few times and know it well. It’s a long, thin, 800-metre rectangle with a giant buoy at every corner, but I also recall that there’s a shallow section that can get pretty whiffy when it’s stirred up.