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Huyton nanny is set to become the first person ever to swim around Anglesey in a day
2 weeks ago
A Huyton nanny is attempting to become the first person ever to swim around Anglesey in a day.
The 53-year-old mum will brave treacherous waters and dangerous stings from jelly fish to complete a lap of the Welsh island in one single effort.
Others have achieved the 71-mile swim in the past but only by breaking it down into separate swims over four days.
Sue is hoping to succeed in around a 15-hour effort in September – and become the first person ever to do it.
Sue, who has already tackled the English Channel in 2018, said:
“It is my most challenging and difficult swim to date and it will rely on conditions being perfect on the day. But when I get in the water, I don’t – and won’t – think of the bigger picture; I’ll just focus on the swim.”
“Anyone can do anything if they put their mind to it, and I’m really looking forward to doing this and making it around the island! It will be a huge achievement.”
Sue has always been a swimmer after being taught by her dad when she was a young girl, and it’s a sport and a pastime she has loved and excelled at.
She was a member of Everton Swimming Club and competed in front crawl (freestyle).
It was only after her mum, Margaret, sadly died from cancer 16 years ago that she swapped the safety of the swimming pool for the wilder waters of the rivers, lakes and seas.
“Mum died from ovarian cancer and had been looked after by Marie Curie in Woolton in the last week of her life, and I wanted to give something back,” she explains. “So I did the Great North Swim, which is a mile length of Windermere in the Lake District, to raise money for them.
“I felt sick before I did it because it was the first big swim I had ever done. I’d only ever swum in a pool before.
“But I trained in the Albert Dock, and I got hooked on it.
“With wild water swimming you feel so much freer, you haven’t got the turns of the pool; and the camaraderie of open water swimming is just amazing. Everyone looks out for each other.
“It’s so good mental health wise too; you can rock up in a bad mood and get out of the water feeling so much better. And it’s great exercise.
“But never when I did that first mile did I ever think I’d swim the Channel, let alone anything else.”
In fact since that first swim, Sue has swum the length of Coniston; the length and back of Ullswater which totals 14.5 miles; completed the full 10½ mile length of Windermere, and battled her way around 41 miles of the Jersey coastline – twice!”
And of course she has swum the Channel:
“That’s 21 miles in a straight line, but of course no-one ever swims it in a straight line,” she smiles. “I was lucky when I did the Channel because it was 18 degrees and I had the sun on my back all day.
“It was choppy but, dare I say, I enjoyed it and I could have carried on at the end. I had trained so much so I had quite a lot left in the bag. Other people have it really bad, and I didn’t.
Since the first Windermere swim for Marie Curie, Sue has gone on to raise money for KIND, the Liverpool charity which supports disadvantaged children to help them reach their full potential, and she’s making her marathon bid around Anglesey to raise money for The Owen McVeigh Foundation, which creates amazing memories and experiences for children with cancer.
“I have raised around £9,000 for charity so far. I chose KIND because, as a private nanny, I work for very privileged families and children who want for nothing, and I wanted to raise money for children who didn’t have everything. The Owen McVeigh Foundation speaks for itself. Not everyone knows about it, but it needs to be on the map for the wonderful work it does.
“I will always support local charities, and I love kids because of my job.”
While she has set her target at £1,000 Sue, whose daughter Holly is 24, is hoping to raise a lot more:
“Many people donate when I’m actually doing a swim, so we’ll see.”
Sue will choose the best day in the week beginning September 8 for the swim and until then she is training for four to five hours, four times a week, mainly at Liverpool Watersports Centre, and will gradually increase it, including swimming parts of the island beforehand to familiarise herself.
Husband Steve and a small crew will man the support boat, which has been chartered from Anglesey Fishing & Boat Trips:
“He’s my biggest support. He feeds me hourly and he never takes his eyes off me for the whole journey … he even knows when I’m feeling ill.”
She will have an observer on board so her epic bid can be fully ratified and, for the first time because of the jelly fish, she will have a medic on board: “Another woman who attempted it was stung and ended up in hospital after suffering from anaphylactic shock.
“When I swim I have a friend on board who writes messages from people on a white board to give me a boost and spur me on if I’m struggling. When I did the Channel someone thought it was funny to say ‘France this way’ so I was laughing when I was swimming. The messages of encouragement helps me through the hours!
“Some of the waters around Anglesey can be choppy and quite treacherous but the jelly fish are the biggest challenge, and I am worried about the cold because there’s not a lot of meat on me.
“It’s the furthest I’ve ever swum so, all being good, it all works out and I finish it.
“Swimming is a very personal thing for me, but to be the first person who’s swum around Anglesey in a day will be huge.”
Follow Sue’s progress on Instagram @suesangleseyswim
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