| | | CALENDAR January 2011 Saturday, 1 January, 2011 - 13:30 Friday, 14 January, 2011 (All day) - Sunday, 16 January, 2011 (All day) Saturday, 22 January, 2011 (All day) Sunday, 23 January, 2011 (All day) Sunday, 30 January, 2011 (All day) |
| | SWIMTREK JANUARY NEWSLETTER
Dear Mircea,
Welcome to the first issue for 2011 of the SwimTrek newsletter!
Happy new year to all of you and may 2011 be a great year, filled with lots of swimming!
In this issue, we take a look at the star-studded line-up for the Midmar Mile in South Africa, travel to Egypt to escape the winter and check out a new film about cold water swimming.
Simon gives us some transition tips, we follow the steps of a Dutch team raising funds for ALS and we review a new book recently launched by a fellow Swimtrekker!
We look forward to seeing you this summer and don't forget...FERRIES ARE FOR WIMPS!
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| | 'SWIMTREK SWIFT' TOURS LAUNCHED 
We are excited to announce the launch of our new Swift tours for the 2011 season. If you see the SwimTrek Swift logo next a date on the availability page, that means that week has been specially reserved for faster swimmers who want to push themselves just that little bit more. If you can swim 1km in less than 25 minutes, these tours may be ideal for you. We are currently running 'Swift' Tours in Croatia, The Lycian Way and Sardinia with more destinations to come soon! For more information click here. |
| WORLD-RENOWNED MIDMAR MILE SWIM ATTRACTS A STAR-STUDDED CROWD The world renowned aQuelle Midmar Mile is set for a royal visit this year as former Olympian and future Princess of Monaco, Charlene Wittstock, has confirmed that she will finally swim her first Midmar Mile. Wittstock competed at the Sydney Olympics alongside silver medallist Terence Parkin, her long time training partner. Wittstock will be joined by Lewis Pugh, the first person ever to undertake a long distance swim at the North Pole in -1.7 °C and without a wetsuit!
Held annually at the Midmar Dam Resort in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa on the 12th and 13th February 2011, the Midmar Mile is in it's 37th year and has attracted over 17000 annual entries over the last few years. In September 2009, the Guiness Book of Records officially recognised the Midmar Mile as the world's largest open water swimming event with 13755 finishers. To find out more about the race and how to enter, click here. |
| SWIMTREKKER LAUNCHES HIS NEW NOVEL! Having both the English Channel and SwimTrek Hellespont swim, under his belt, accomplished swimmer Michael Jennings has taken the plunge with a completely different challenge, the release of his book, "Believe It or Not!". Jennings hopes to raise over 20K for a North Kent charity and "Believe It or Not!" hit the shelves in October 2010. The book details his extraordinary life story, which includes his first swim across the Channel in 1960 and life as the world's number one amateur swimmer during the early 1960s. "Believe It or Not!" is available online HERE or alternatively a copy can be bought from Mr Jennings on 01494 704 495. |
|  HELLESPONT SWIM 2011 FUNDRAISER
When one of their friends contracted a neurodegenerative disease, Rene Geskes and a group of 10 others decided they needed "some action and some serious fund raising!". As a result, all 11 have signed up to the 2011 Hellespont race in an effort to raise a massive €50,000 for the ALS Foundation which helps and supports those with the neurodegenerative disease. They already have the likes of triple Olympic champion Pieter van den Hoogenbrand behind their fantastic cause and if you would like more information on the group and their challenge, go to ALS Hellespont Challenge and for more information on our 2011 Hellespont tour, Click Here. |
| WINTER SWIMMING - A film by Jack Bright Jack Bright is producing a film that specializes in winter swimming in freezing water temperatures. "In winter, the temperature of the open water drops to 0°C (32°F). Some people swim in such temperatures for up to 22 minutes. We swim up to 1K competitively in near freezing water sometimes and there is an ongoing competition called the Czech Cup with races every weekend through the winter. At the top end, there are channel swimmers. At the other end, there are people who like to swim for pleasure so a wide spectrum of people are involved.." The film was shot during one of the harshest central European winters in years and features beautiful cinematography from award-winning Jan Mika. "Hopefully after watching this film, people will be inclined to embrace nature, be more active and try winter swimming for themselves." For more info on this film, click here. |
| SIMON'S TECHNIQUE TIP- TRANSITION  Many triathletes are so focused on the 3 individual disciplines that the 2 transitions are often neglected. It can be argued that the transitions are a discipline in themselves. In T1 (Transition from swim to bike) the biggest time saver is undoubtedly learning how to remove the wetsuit quickly. Practising this disrobing technique will help reduce your race times. For top tips on a faster transition, click here. |
EGYPTIAN RED SEA WINTER ESCAPE Taking place during the Northern Hemisphere winter, this is ideal to escape the winter blues! Swimming over the striking reefs of the Egyptian Red Sea, no other tour offers such striking underwater vistas.Chosen to offer the swimmer an idyllic location in the Northern Hemisphere winter, the coral coast line of the Red Sea in the Sinai region stretches for more than 800km with a backdrop of harsh red mountains to the North and the distant shorelines of Saudi Arabia in the South. Our central location in the laid back coastal town of Dahab enables us to explore a vast array of reefs, dive sights and secluded coast lines.
With few signs of mass tourism, stunning shoreline reefs and year round sunshine and warm water, this is an ideal location for open water swimming. For more information and to book this tour, please click here. |
| JOIN THE SWIMTREK TEAM! We are looking for swimming guides who can work on our open water swimming tours preferably for the 2011 May to November season.
You will need to be an experienced open water swimmer and have the ability to assist with the planning and running of all arrangements throughout the duration of the tour. You will be required to obtain a beach lifeguard, first aid at work, food hygiene and powerboat qualification and a swim teaching/coaching qualification would be an advantage. A flexible, responsible and dynamic attitude combined with an outgoing personality are qualities ideally suited to this position. We would also prefer you to have either dual EU nationality or the appropriate immigration documentation to allow you to work in the EU.
We are also seeking guides who can speak Italian with the appropriate experience to work (but not exclusively) on our Sardinia tour.
If you are interested in these positions, please e-mail your swimming related CV to:- |
| 'CRAZIEST SWIMTREKKERS' COMPETITION  Here's a chance for you to share your brilliant photographs from your holiday with the rest of us and possibly win a fantastic prize!
Every month, three photographs will be chosen out of those sent to us and will be featured in the newsletter. Then, at our annual year-end party, one of these featured photographs will be chosen as our grand winner and each person in the winning group will get a prize!
If you think you have the winning photograph, please send them it to us at miaarussell@gmail.com, including your name, the location and the date of the tour that the photograph was taken. |
| If you have any questions or want to get in touch with us, feel free to send an email to info@swimtrek.com. Sincerely,
The SwimTrek Team
www.SwimTrek.com | | |
