British Gas Great North Swim 19th June 2011

Posted on August 2nd, 2011 in General News

The Great North Swim, sponsored by British Gas, is one of a series of 5 outdoor swimming events held in the UK. Entries for the 2011 event filled within six weeks of opening to make it the biggest swimming event ever to be staged in Britain with 16,000 participants. The event was held across three days with 1/2 mile, 1 mile and 2 mile swims. Swimmers set off in waves of approximately 300 every half an hour. The men’s elite race featured an array of world-class talent with Britain’s Tom Allen joined by double Commonwealth Games gold medallist Dave Carry, German duo Jan Wolfgarten, runner-up at last weekend’s British Gas Great East Swim, and World Junior Champion Dimitri Colupaev, as well as the Czech Republic’s Jan Posmourny, a regular at Great Swims and ninth in last year’s world championships 5k open water, along with a selection of up and coming British talent, Including Adrian Jackson from Birchall Foodservice. Adrian competed with friends Will Johnson and Brian O’Connor to raise money for “Medi Quip 4 Kids. The trio completed the one mile course within an hour and raised over £400 for charity between them. They were welcomed back to dry land by Brendan Foster.

Brendan Foster’s athletic career saw him compete in three Olympic Games, claiming Britain’s only track and field medal (bronze in the 10,000 metres) at the 1976 Montreal Olympics. In 1981, Foster founded the Great North Run. The 2005 race was the 25th staging of the event, in which over half a million people have taken part over the years. The event regularly attracts over 50,000 entrants, making it (as it has been every year since 1981) the UK’s biggest road race.

Adrian has now competed in 8 Great North Runs and started to swim as part of his training for the 2010 GNR event. The temptation of the lake was too great to resist and decided to enter for the 2011 Great North Swim event as his challenge for the year. This event was by far his toughest challenge yet, finishing 5491 out of a field of over 50000, however the experience of the day bettered any of his previous challenges and he intends make it a regular annual event.

Adrian, Will and Brian trained for the event at North Yorkshires Ellerton Park Lake, The Lakeside Café www.ellertonpark.com which is owned by Sarah and Graham Thompson, customers of Birchall Foodservice. Sarah also took part in this years GNS starting in the Yellow Wave ½ hour after Adrian and the boys and she completed it in an impressive 41 minutes, well she would having her own personal lake to train in.

Brian O’Connor, Adrian Jackson and Will Johnson