Linda Hall: How I landed in the deep end

Linda Hall

Me and my big mouth! Yep, I've done it again - went to work bragging about how I'd swum so many lengths at the Clive Pools.

"That's good," said a colleague, "because we need a swimmer for the Tremains Triathlon and you are it."

What? I'm quite happy swimming a length or two, having a wee breather, doing a length of breaststroke then backstroke to get my breathing under control but swimming, no- racing - in Pandora Pond with hundreds of other people? The very thought of it made my stomach feel queasy.

Too late though, thanks to a "very competitive" person in editorial, I was entered.

Okay, I thought, I need to practise in the pond. Oh and I need some new togs first, mine have a little skirt thing which I have been told look like nana togs.

Then the next thought hits me ... togs ... no way, I need the heavy artillery so I at least look the part. A wetsuit was what I needed.

Before the thought got much further than that, a rahui was issued for Pandora Pond, banning its use for two weeks.

So back to the pools I went. The butterflies in my stomach went crazy every time I thought about "the swim".

By the time the rahui was lifted there was just one week left for me to practise in the pond. A teammate, who also lent me a wetsuit and is a gun swimmer (she's also a gun cyclist, so that was why I was swimming), accompanied me to the pond on Monday morning.

I stuffed myself into the wetsuit and felt like a half-choked zombie as I gingerly made my way to the water.

"See that buoy out there ... that's where we are headed," said the gun swimmer.

It didn't look too far away, so off I went. Minutes later, I was off course and doing breaststroke. To cut a long story short, I flipped on to my back several times, went off course, stopped for rests at each buoy and was relieved when I finally hit shore.

The gun swimmer said: "You did really well."

Whatever!

Now the butterflies were doing backward flips.

We did it all again on Wednesday and I did a little better. Once out of the water I asked the "gun swimmer" to undo the wetsuit. "Mmm, that may be a little hard, you appear to have it on inside out."

Oh dear.

Home I eventually went, with those butterflies going crazy every time I thought about it.

Then I heard about Cyclone Pam. Dare I say it - bring it on - this was my chance to get out of it. Organisers surely wouldn't let swimmers into the pond if there were huge swells, high winds and pelting ran.

I couldn't help but grin.

But then the forecast said Pam wouldn't arrive on our shores until Monday, with the possibility of rain on Sunday afternoon.

Back came the butterflies as it finally sank in - I had to do this.

I woke to heavy rain early yesterday morning but, instead of thinking I was going to get out of it, I was actually disappointed. I wanted to get there and just do it, as I'm sure every other competitor wanted to.

Luckily, the rain stopped. We arrived, along with hundreds of other competitors and supporters. The atmosphere was fantastic. People were stretching, warming up, laughing, chatting. You could feel the nervous tension in the air as the clock ticked down to start time.

And guess what? I made it. Our team did really well, as did every other team that entered. The event is a credit to organisers and competitors alike.

Will I do it next year? We will see about that.

-Linda Hall is assistant editor at Hawke's Bay Today.