Recent retiree Wendy Burton has taken up a new challenge, one that she has dreamed about for decades.
Here’s her report:
“I have qualified to swim on a relay team in the English Channel. This has been a dream of mine since I was nine years old and attempted a one-mile swim around Mary Todd Island in Victoria. My training began (again) in 2008 after my stint with hospital stays and such. I was on track for a solo effort when things went on hold [for family health reasons]. It seemed my dream was drifting to the very back burner.
“My brother qualified last summer with a four-person team to swim this summer. This April, one of the team had an accident with his motor-bike and he broke his leg. The team asked me if I would attempt to get qualified in June. I said yes and started training in open water in April (water temp 11 degrees Celsius).
“I qualified on June 15, and my application was accepted a week later by the Channel Swim Association. We have a window of five days, July 20-25, 2014, and we have first refusal, so we hope to go early in our window rather than late. We have a four-person team, so I will be one hour in and then three out and then one in and three out … until we land somewhere in France.
“I will be the second oldest woman to swim in the Channel. Not the record I was hoping for, but I’ll take it!”
You can follow the progress of Wendy and her fellow swimmers on Facebook, by liking the page titled Salish Sea Swimmers in the English Channel.