It always annoys me when I miss the deadline for a race, or I just hear about it too late. So, after some research, I’ve chosen a few races to consider...

7th May Amphiman, Belgium

11th June Stockholm, Sweden

18th June Isles of Scilly, England

25th June Llanberis, Wales

2nd July Breca, England

23rd July The Broads, England

6th August Snowdonia, Wales

20th August Ten Island Swimrun, Sweden

4th September Loch Lomond, Scotland

10th September Outer Hebrides, Scotland

1st October Loch Gu Loch, Scotland

9th October Galway, Ireland (tbc)

22nd October Mallorca, Spain

Engadin Swimrun July 2015 47km Running 6km swimming in the Swiss Alps

After enjoying Uto so much myself and Kate were hoping that are reserve place for Engadin was going to convert into an actual place… and it did.

We didn’t use hand paddles at Uto but with the longer swim sections at Engadin we decided we should use them. I also retired my old 1mm wetsuit as it’s holes were getting bigger and more numerous. I decided to use an old Aquasphere Pursuit SL.

So we arrived in Silvaplana mid-way through the pasta party with 30 minutes until the race briefing.  I had heard that last year the lakes had been colder than expected and lots of people were pulled out of the water in the early stages of hypothermia. It was a different story this year with blazing sunshine and warmer lakes. Race briefing done, time to set up camp.

Race day. It started with a testing, hot and slow uphill climb to 2400m before the most technical descent of the race. We weren’t on tow at this point and I was bursting at the seams to do some overtaking but Kate was being too polite to pass people, or was she just knackered? We set up the tow at the start of the first swim. The fact we hadn’t done any training with the hand paddles became apparent. The paddles enhanced my stronger left-hand pull sending us off to the right, I then over-compensated which sent us far left. We eventually got out and I began to think “this is going to be a long day”.

We were quite near the back but started to get into a nice running rhythm. The next swim saw me take us far right again, so much so that Kate was shouting at me. At one point Kate thought I was dead. What had actually happened was my left hand paddle had come off and I had stopped to re-attach it, I was surprised at how easily she thought I had died.

We caught up with another British couple who had come 5th in the mixed category last year. We briefly ran together whilst they told us what to expect ahead before they sped up and left us.

The energy stations were well provisioned and pretty pleasant with much of the food provided by winforce, there was also soup and sausage available, yes! I took on some sausage just before the start of the longest swim. I very slowly chewed it whilst swimming which was surprisingly relaxing - it was also a good way to take on some salt. By this time I had gotten used to the hand paddles and enjoyed the long swim, the cool water was like therapy for the body which is one of the things I love about swimrun.

We chugged along and found ourselves catching the British mixed team we had chatted to earlier. We entered the final swim just behind them and got out together. They set straight off for the finish whilst we decided to unzip wetsuits. At first I wondered if this was a mistake but we soon caught them and stepped up the pace to come in as first British mixed team.

Uto Swimrun 31st May 2015

After loving the 2014 Uto I vowed to return. This time I had a new race partner as Janek was off chasing rainbows in Colorado (or something). Fellow Outward Bound instructor Kate Murphy didn’t vomit at the thought of entering such a race… which meant she was my new race partner.

After a few training runs and swims we found that Kate was the same speed as me in the pool but as soon as we got into open water I was faster. We were quite similar on the running but I was quicker on the hills so we decided to take the plunge and adopt a tow system.

My general philosophy for life is to keep things simple, minimal kit, minimal faff, so adding a tow system to our race was a step into the stretch zone. After some practise we realised it was actually really simple and effective and we became very comfortable with it.

We turned up in Stockholm on the Friday, 2 days before the race. This wasn’t some clever acclimatisation/familiarisation race plan, it was in fact because I thought the race was on the Saturday… it was actually on Sunday.

My friend Daniel and super-dude of kayaking picked us up from the airport. After a quick tour of his kayak shop (Svima Sport) we went to a great Thai restaurant in the uber-cool Stockholm. In Aberdovey if you want Thai you have to cook it yourself so this was a welcome treat.

We set off for Uto and arrived on the Island around 19:00. There’s something special about getting a ferry to an island for a race.

Having left booking accommodation to the last minute, when I did try to book there was no accommodation left on the island. Resourcefulness gene kicks in. At last year’s race I met a local teacher who taught at Uto School, I gave her a shout and asked if she could help, very kindly she said we could stay at the school. Result!

The Saturday saw us observing some very Welsh weather. It was cool, rained all day with very strong winds from the south west. I had kept faithful to my old 1mm Aquasphere Aquaskin and Kate was in a 3/2mm Orca. We went for a quick swim and I realised that I was taking on a lot of water. On closer inspection I noticed lots of little holes under the armpits of my wetsuit.

Race day. The sun was trying to come out and the wind was blowing hard, my favourite kind of race conditions. We started right at the back of the field and got stuck in a bottle-neck quite early on during a narrow forest trail… note to self - start nearer the front next time.

We soon hit the first swim and it was carnage. I loved it. With my automatic armpit cooling system in my wetsuit I told Kate that I was going to leg it out after every swim to try and warm up. We chugged along nicely.

A few hours later we got to the south of the island and it was truly awesome. There were steady Force 6 winds blowing which turned the sea state into a surfy mess. It was time to adopt some coasteering techniques for entry and exit to and from the swims, and use some survival swimming skills. It was wild racing, at one point I was concerned for the crew of the safety boat.

Here’s Dave’s report of our May ski ascent of Europe’s highest mountain: http://davetalbot.net/climbing-elbrus/

Itera Expedition Race August 2014

There were some low lows, and some remarkable memories.

If you want to go fast, go alone

If you want to go far, go together

This African proverb just about sums it up. 

It was a grey January in Wales. We were looking for inspiration. We found something called Uto SwimRun, this was it. We entered. 

We vowed to train hard, record our progress, experiment with different combinations of gear, tow-floats, hand paddles, types of wetsuit, shoes...

...it transpired that come race day Janek was stood on the start line having swum 500m in a wetsuit he had borrowed 48 hours earlier. 

The journey to Uto from Aberdovey was an adventure in itself. It involved my truck, a train, a plane, quite a lot of running through Stockholm Airport, 2 more trains, a bus, and a ferry onto the island. When we saddled up to the bar at Uto Vardshus we felt quite proud that we had made it this far. This feeling encouraged us to drink the local ales. It was one of those nights when you ignore the price of a pint and trust it will all work out in the end.

Having out-drunk our fellow competitors we left the bar feeling strong.

We hit breakfast with abundance, particularly as it was buffet style. And what a fine buffet it was with all sorts of meats, cheeses and unknowns. Such a good spread is dangerous on the morning of a race as my in-built "I'm at a buffet, must stuff myself repeatedly" gene kicks in. And indeed I was stood next to Janek on the start line, him in his peculiar wetsuit, and me with an ham and cheese roll in my mouth.

As we walked up to the start Janek asked "what's our strategy?" this took me by surprise. My usual race strategy is "leg it and adjust". I considered the question, these things need to be considered more when you are racing as a pair. Janek suggested that we start at the back away from the mayhem and see how we go. Agreed. 

We were off. The combination of running through forest and over rocks into sea swimming was brilliant. I loved the transition between running/swimming and swimming/running, it felt primal. During the first hour of the race I experienced some abdominal discomfort due to my earlier performance at the buffet, this is not uncommon for me during a race. I normally find a rhythm after lots of burping and strange breathing patterns.

Half way in and we were feeling strong. We were overtaking people on the running sections and I noticed we were particularly quick in transitions. Two thirds of the way in at a drinks station someone shouted "you're only 25 minutes behind the leaders". We were shocked. We stepped it up a gear and started to overtake even more people running through the woods.

Then we started to slow. It was this point, in the last third of a race, this is the point were all that training pays off. For us there was no pay back. We weren't in credit, in fact we were now in debt. 

In the end we finished 38th out of 120. Satisfactory.

More importantly, despite finishing 38th, we somehow managed to be first into the post-race buffet. Impressed? I was.

This was followed by some solid camaraderie at the bar and an highly enjoyable after-party.  

Uto SwimRun is my favourite race ever and I will return.

 We arrived in Westport in time for breakfast having driven through the night from Dublin Port. It was 8am. Nowhere was open for breakfast until 9, I remembered we were in Ireland.

There was an hotel open so we went in for a coffee and a quick planning session. As we sat scouring the weather forecast, tide times, charts and maps a senior chap came in and ordered a Jamesons, swiftly followed by two other patrons wanting a Guinness and a Magners. It was 8am on a Saturday morning in Westport.  

The forecast for the next 48 hours was such that it pleaded for us to start our circumnavigation of Achill Island immediately. We bought some camping gas and a pair of sunglasses from www.portwest.ie (who gave us a welcome discount) and we set off for Achill.

We called in on cousin Anne in the Valley, immediately tea and sandwiches were produced. After a good tea session we headed off to Dugort strand, on the north side of Achill. After a thorough kit faff session we were ready to go around 15:00. We left the truck at the ever-friendly Stand Hotel. 

Our first camp was at Lough Nakeeroge, the lowest lough in Ireland, and possibly the most remote. The tide was close to it's low and so revealed the beautiful silver sand of Annarh Strand. A great place to land. We set up camp between the Atlantic and Lough Nakeeroge, made all the more special when an otter passed by our tent and plunged into the Lough.

To get round Saddle Head and Achill Head we needed to leave at around High Tide. What we hadn't really factored in was that at high tide the elusive Annagh Strand was covered, we would have to launch into dumping waves from a boulder field. This turned into an interesting challenge, and the "make or break" moment of the trip.

The swell was big around Saddle Head, but the wind was negligible which made for a fun trip around the imposing Croaghaun cliffs - the highest sea cliffs in Europe, apparently.

We pulled into the magical Keem bay for lunch around about 13:00. Here we bumped into cousin Colin, Maria and Erin - we hastily arranged to meet for some drinks when we had finished. We realised it was Easter Sunday and pulled out the mini-eggs that cousin Anne had given us. Katie ate most of them.

When it's sunny in Keem bay you inevitably relax, we eventually pulled away at around 16:00. The wind had picked up and clouds had come in for our crossing to Dooega. We landed at Ballyhawny Harbour (near Dooega) at around 19:30 after a good workout in the wind. 

Easter Monday, through Achill Sound and back to Dugort. Our tidal planning for this section was crucial and we couldn't have planned it any better, a very enjoyable final day of our circumnavigation of Achill Island.

After a few Guinness on the Monday night in The Annexe Inn, we paddled over to Clare Island and carried on our circumnavigation theme in rougher conditions and very dramatic coastline. A wild island worth exploring.

After a few days rest and surfing at Keel beach we then completed a horseshoe tour of Clew bay from Rockfleet Bay to Louisburgh taking in Westport and a summit of Croagh Patrick on the way.

A fantastic trip out west.

Photos of the trip here.

THE BEGINNING

When my friend Dan Graham, who was inspired after completing the Coast to Coast race, asked if I fancied doing a 5 day expedition race in Scotland I said “Yes”. 

It was only during the event that I realised that most competitors had at least done a 1 day adventure race before. Many had done 2 or 3 days, and quite a few had done 5 day races, some had even competed in the World Championships.

I've experienced some suffer-fests in my time, and been on many multi-day expeditions where the focus was on the journey, a summit attempt, getting from A to B - not transitions, check points, “dibbing”, wearing bibs, race marshals, trackers, making sure you had the right helmet in the right transition bag, along with the required food (calorific intake) and emergency equipment for specific legs of the race.

For me the Adidas Terrex Sting was a baptism of fire into the world of Adventure Racing - just the way I like it.

Our team evolved from Dan, Jordan, Abby and myself. Jordan dropped out due to life commitments (or something), so Dan’s friend Dom stepped in. 

We had a training “weekend” in Wales which involved some canoeing on the Dyfi (Dovey) Estuary (a big thank you to The Outward Bound Trust, Aberdovey, for loan of their canoes), mountain biking somewhere (I missed this due to work), some trekking in the middle of the night finding imaginary check points (including a quick summit up Cadair Idris at 3am), followed by some multi-pitch rock climbing at the little known crag of Bird Rock.

Dom later dropped out due to injury. With 3 weeks remaining until the start of the race we were short of a team member. 

Dan G managed to recruit Dan Carrivick via an Adventure Race forum. Magic.

It turns out that Dan C was relatively experienced in such races, and looking back perhaps I shouldn’t have completely ignored his spreadsheet of recommended calorific intake.

So we first met as a full team in Stirling 24 hours before the start of the “prologue”. The prologue is  pre-race race. When Dan told me of this “prologue” a few days before heading up to Scotland I said “What?”. He said “Yes, it’s a relay race before the actual race.” I said “What?”. The conversation continued in this vein.

THE PROLOGUE

The prologue was actually a lot of fun. Abby kicked us off with a flat out foot-race around Stirling. She got us off to a solid start and passed the baton (tracker) to me for an orienteering leg. I collected the orienteering map and set off at full speed as if I was running a 400m track race. It was only after I had taken a few turns that I remembered I was actually meant to be orienteering and not just legging it around the streets of Stirling.

The first check point took me by surprise, especially as it had the number 5 on it - I thought it was going to be number 2. This was a key turning point. Now I knew where I was. I quickly engaged my brain along with my legs, dibbed at all the checkpoints and handed the tracker over to Dan C. He blasted around a golf course on a mountain bike. Apparently that was what he was meant to do, but I’m not so sure. Dan C returned and handed over to Dan G, who had more of a brutal mountain bike leg to complete, taking in the William Wallace monument.

We finished somewhere between 1st and last position, just like we planned.

THE START

So with the prologue out of the way we kicked off the actual race on Monday morning. Half way to the start line I realised that I had forgotten my bib. Not a problem I zoomed back to base camp and got bibbed up. As I look back now, after 5 days of constantly taking the bib on and off to layer up/delayer, I wish I’d left it where it was. However I’m pretty sure not having a bib is severely frowned upon.

THE 10km RUN - Stirling

Easy. However during the run it dawned on Dan G that he had packed the helmet he was going to use for the canyoning section in the wrong bag. This added a faff factor and a delay to our race. I think we probably would have won the race had it not been for this delay.

80km MOUNTAIN BIKE - Doune Castle and The Trossachs

Not too painful, apart from when Abby went over her handlebars and smashed many parts of her body on rocks. A little blood, a massive thigh bruise, nothing broken. This bike leg also saw our one and only puncture of the race, and a lost wheel nut from Abby’s "wonder bike". A big thanks to the marshalls who sorted out a replacement nut in time for the next MTB leg

Oh, just remembered the lovely rowing part of the race that was squeezed into this 1st mountain bike leg. Apparently it was across Scotland’s only lake. Relatively relaxing.

Got to the first transition at Killin, my first experience of a race transition ever, it was great. We put up the tent and then sat down. Dan G told us all to consume complex carbohydrates. I needed tea, and lots of it. I also scoffed some of my mum’s cake, then more tea with some good sitting down, before hitting the tent around 23:00.

46km CANOE - Loch Tay, River Tay

Tent down at 01:45am, some calorific intake and we’re off. No time for tea this morning.

We were on Loch Tay at 02:28am and it was beautiful. Pitch black, no wind, an amazing introduction to the first canoe leg. By 08:00am (ish) we were glad to see the back of Loch Tay. 

We cruised down the rapids of the River Tay feeling good. I wondered why the race marshalls seemed so anxious, with lots of shouting and pointing at each rapid. We later heard that many of the top teams had capsized, and one had had a foot entrapment. We found this encouraging, not the foot entrapment, but the fact that we might be able to make some ground on teams ahead of us. 

30km MOUNTAIN BIKE - Grampian Mountains

The sun was out and big climbs were the order of the day. A grueling uphill slog into the mountains, which was remarkably enjoyable, followed by a fast, bumpy descent with no casualties. 

CANYONING  - Bruar Falls

We were all looking forward to a good soaking in cool mountain water. The canyoning featured in the trailer for this race was probably the main appeal to me, I am at my most comfortable in and amongst rushing, cold water. In the end I found it a little bit odd in the race format. 

As a team we were good in water and we had hoped that we could make up some ground on the less “water-comfortable” teams. However because of the safety involved in the canyon it became more of an activity we were doing in the middle of the race, and not the actual race. Nevertheless it was great to have a wash and soothe the legs. 

40km MOUNTAIN BIKE - Cairngorm National Park

Although this was probably our hardest MTB section, I enjoyed it the most. It started on road, then on track, then on bridleway, then through swamps, then across increasingly deep rivers. Somewhere between the bridleway and swampy sections it turned dark, I loved the dusk pedaling, spurred on by the prospect of being midgey-fied if you slowed. 

As darkness took hold there were some tricky carry/push your bike sections. Once through the swampy bits we hit a 4x4 track around about midnight, we took a moment to turn all of our lights off to appreciate the silly number of stars. Then away at a remarkable pace -  my first experience of mountain biking in the dark and it was great, the river-crossings were particularly fun. We finally reached smooth smooth tarmac and blasted into transition at Mar Lodge.

Mar Lodge was a lovely building in which I sacrificed some sleeping time in order to take on my required amount of tea. Unfortunately I lost my Leatherman here. Gutted. In tent for 02:00am.

40km MOUNTAIN BIKE - Balmoral Castle and on to Glenmuick

Tent down at 04:30am and away. By now we were all pretty comfortable at just getting on the bikes and pedaling. This section started quite pleasantly. As we passed Balmoral Castle a policeman informed us that we had just missed The Duchess of Cornwall, I know her as Camilla. 

The last 10km into transition started to drag, but we pushed on in the knowledge that soon we would be able to enjoy the simple freedom of walking in the mountains.

25km TREK - Lochnager & Glen Shee

After midge-fest transition we were glad to be on the move again. The weather was good and it was great to be out of the saddle. We got to the first scramble which was great fun and pretty loose. Bagged a few Munros and did some dibbing at various check points, a second scramble up an exposed pinnacle that was even better than the first one. Big shout out to the race marshall at the bottom of the second scramble - she had a box of Celebrations. Awesome. 

At some point before the Celebrations we were overtaken by the Adidas Terrex team. They brought with them the attraction of a film crew in a helicopter, we let them passed as we didn’t want to show them up.

As night and cloud fell some rock-solid navigation was needed to find the last checkpoint. Dan C’s “lighthouse” head torch was particularly useful. As we started to descend to Glen Shee in worsening visibility a team approached us with a definite look of “we are lost, cold and tired but we’re reluctant to admit it”. 

The final 30 mins before reaching transition at Glen Shee was my most tired. After much eating I had the most complete shut down for a solid 5 hours in the warm smelly Glen Shee ski lodge.

20km TREK - Cairnwell

After that fabulous sleep we awoke at 05:30am as new people. The coffee from the mobile caterer (Clive Ramsey, legend) served to lift our spirits even higher as we stomped up into the second half of the trek. Moving at a good pace, chatting lots, and generally very cheery, we had a great morning on the hill. Until a long trudge along a track took us to another midge-infested spot, to re-build our bikes, and get back into the saddle.

25 km MOUNTAIN BIKE

Getting on the saddle felt great, particularly as we were getting away from the midges. But also because we could begin to smell the finish. We blasted this leg that ended with a tricky single track section through plenty of gorse bushes.

60km CANOE

No problem. Apart from a partial capsize whilst taking a sketchy line down a strainer-strewn side of an island. Apart from this we had become such canoe monsters that we could even urinate on the move. Yes, when an athlete can relieve themselves on the move they know that they are performing at their best. 

60km MOUNTAIN BIKE

We were “in the zone”. Dan G led us like Hell’s Angels out of the Perth traffic. I think we all enjoyed this mountain bike leg, all the way back to Stirling.

THE END

We finished fit and strong. We drank what remained of the Champagne after Abby had sprayed much of it on someone's laptop. I got a fantastic assisted stretch from my new favourite marshall and we all slept soundly in the sports hall. It felt odd to have finished as we were just getting into a nice rhythm.

Thanks to Dan Graham for asking me to join his team and thanks to James Thurlow and his team at Open Adventure for setting it up.

Suggestion for the next race - have the finish by a cold lake/river/sea so we can run through the finish line and jump straight into the water. Actually, maybe have the finish line in the middle of a lake so we have to swim through it! 

This will actually speed up our muscle recovery as well as being fun! Check this research out from The University of Western Australia: http://ww.jssm.org/vol10/n4/10/v10n4-10pdf.pdf 

No worries.

CLIMBING DENALI, June 2011

We were dropped off on the Kalhitna Glacier on Wednesday 8th June by Sheldon Air Service (who were awesome), and were picked up on Tuesday 28th June after the whole team successfully summiting. I will just describe the summit day for now, hopefully I'll get a chance to write up the whole expedition. 

We got up to high camp (5200m) late afternoon on Sunday 19th June and there were high winds. We were stuck there through Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. The radio weather report on Wednesday reported high winds predicted for Thursday up to 60 mph but reducing to around 25-35mph on the Friday so we thought it looks like Friday is our best chance as high winds were set to return over the weekend. With the ambient temperature at the summit easily reaching -30 degrees Celsius we didn't like to think about the effect of wind chill.

I couldn’t sleep. I lay in the tent listening to the winds battering the tent all through Wednesday night until about 6am when they seemed to die down. I continued listening and eventually got up and had a look at Denali Pass. It looked good to go, this was our window. I woke everyone up, we took a while to get ready as we were expecting Thursday to be a sit it out day.

It was steady progress up until Denali Pass where the wind hit us solidly for about 2 hours. We trudged along. Jimmy's crampon came off twice and at one point he dropped his ice axe about 60m down a slope. But he got through it, showing unbelievable determination. The climb, the wind, and the altitude was taking all of my strength so to have to deal with kit issues would have been a real kick in the balls.

There were only 15 other people making a summit attempt that day - four rangers, a group of South Koreans, a commercial group from AMS and a solo turkish climber. 

We got to Pig Hill, the final rise just before the summit ridge, it didn’t look that steep but at the time it really felt like a hill too far. It was hell. Once we got onto the summit ridge we re-focused and pushed on. We summited around 5pm on Thursday 23rd June. The altitude must have really affected Dave as he decided to propose to his girlfriend on top of North America. I started to get pretty cold whilst taking photos.

We got back to high camp around 11:30pm completely exhausted. To this day I have never been so tired. In the 10 days from Sunday 19th June to Tuesday 28th June our summit day was the only day anyone got to the top so we considered ourselves to be lucky. That said, we had put ourselves in a position to be lucky. What's that saying… luck is when preparation meets opportunity, or something like that.

SWIMMING OVER THE CUILLIN, Isle of Skye

After a previous day of awkward rope-work on the Cuillin Ridge, myself and Tom awoke at Glen Brittle campsite to a beautifully clear blue May sky. We soon decided that our focus for this fine day would be water rather than rock.

Our first water feature was a dip in the sea at Loch Brittle, a dip we decided to place in the realms of the "bastard cold" temperature range; after the coldest winter since circa 1534 the sea was indeed taking a long time to warm up. We followed the track/road up to the river that would lead us to the magic of the fairey pools. We enjoyed much plunging, diving and head-freeze in the pools and then basked in the finest sunshine that Skye can offer.

Energised by the cool water and warm sunshine we pulled the map out and began plotting an ambitious route over the Cuillin, with our final water feature being Loch Coruisk. By our reckoning we had just enough cereal bars to get us there and then back to the pub near The Sligachan Hotel without the need for an epic - particularly as there was not even a hint of a cloud in sight.

As we followed the river upwards we discovered many great spots for water fun - you could spend the whole day enjoying this river. However we were focused on getting over the ridge, down to Coruisk and out so we had to limit our breaks.

As you can see from the Google map that I retrospectively plotted the route is around 17 miles and is not for the faint-hearted.

We climbed up steep, un-even ground over the Cuillin ridge (running south-west of Am Bastier). Once over this ridge we were faced with a more than tricky downward south-east traverse over scree and boulders which eventually brought us to the ridge that runs parallel to the main Cuillin Ridge displaying Inaccessible Pinnacle in all its glory.

Another tricky descent brought us to a much needed soak in Loch Coruisk. We found a nice shallow area which had been warmed by the sunshine all day, it must have been at least 12 degrees Celsius - toastie compared to Loch Brittle.

Loch Coruisk was a fine arena for swimming with the majestic Cuillins peering down as you swam. It felt like the definition of remote, we both thought what a great spot this would be for wild camping.

Alas we faced a walk out that would bring us to the Sligachan Hotel just after they had stopped serving food. Guinness, nuts and some homemade shortbread sufficed. Exhuasted we broke with tradition and took a taxi back to Glenbrittle campsite to collapse.

If I did this route again I'd turn it into a two-dayer with a wild camp at Loch Coruisk, allowing more time for fun and exploration.

This route is remote, at times exposed, and involves some difficult moving over steep ground, scree and boulders. 

Keel, Achill Island, Co Mayo.

After returning from a little traveling I was asked by Kate Rew, founder of the Outdoor Swimming Society, if I'd write a piece on how to find good spots to swim for the OSS's newsletter... here it is:

Mike Alexander has been a dedicated member of OSS since 2006, during which time he has picked up tips from Lewis Pugh and Olympic & World Medalist Cassie Patten. In December 2009 he left his teaching job in London to lead treks across Costa Rica, during which time he has been finding great swim spots en route.  Here he gives his secrets to finding good swim spots abroad. My passion for outdoor swimming was conceived back in 2000 when I joined a small freediving club. We would immerse ourselves in various water holes around North Wales and, although I came 3rd in the UK Championships, I realised quickly that I preferred to enjoy and explore the water rather than target a specific depth.