Page 25 - RADC Bulletin 2018

SPORT
Army Foundation College ‘Race the Bosporus’ Swim
Maj Kathryn Dransfield RADC
0300hrs is a perfectly acceptable time to be awake. But only if it involves clutching a bag of chips having had an awesome night out. However, as the alarm goes off, it is before dawn, and I’m on camp having slept little, partly with excitement, partly sheer panic, that the 3am alarm marks the beginning of a sporting journey. The journey for the team of 12 swimmers, from the permanent staff swim club of
the Army Foundation College Harrogate, actually started months ago with countless swim sessions in the pool on camp, cold lengthy lake swims and the brutal Great North Swim competition (for a death or glory place on the team assessment and practice)!
But we have made it, and are now on our way to Istanbul to race along the Bosporus in the Turkish Olympic Committee’s 29th edition of the Samsung Bosporus Cross- Continental Swimming Race. The Bosporus is usually one of the busiest shipping lanes between Europe and Asia but is shut
down once a year just for the occasion of thousands of swimmers racing across it. Competitors will come from 40 different countries and in Turkey places are decided by previous competition wins with only the top 40 in each age group qualifying.
The AFC swim team board the bus to Leeds Bradford
airport, flying via
Amsterdam to
Istanbul. We pass completely uneasily through customs after no less than 3 different managers had eyes on our NATO travel order, and only a
small disturbance with
aircrew about us using
their precious fast
lane and bypassing
the 4 hour passport
control queue for
mere mortals. Our
passports are finally stamped with much enthusiasm from the officials and there are now the tiny letters ‘NATO’ written in biro to welcome us to race weekend.
Istanbul is glorious!
We have escaped the driving rain and gale-force winds of Harrogate to blazing sunshine and spectacular scenery of Turkey. As the race is on Sunday we decided that to acclimatise we should get our sea legs at a
beach resort with some coastal swimming in the waves. The Great North Swim did little to settle the team’s nerves only a few weeks earlier, as 50% of the team experienced some form of problems including motion
the water we wouldn’t be able to see the banks of the river or finish line so far in
the distance. On a plus note from our UK lake swims, the water was 24 degrees so wetsuits were swapped for sunscreen and swimsuits, and as we watched dolphins play alongside the boat we realised how privileged we were to be here.
Race day arrives and it is an early start again! Breakfast at 6, bus just after 7 and
at the race course for 8. We sun cream up and put on our swimming costume, race chip, goggles and swim hat, this is all that is allowed on the boat set that takes us to the start line. Packed in tight with thousands of other sweating swimmers we eagerly await the go. The officials attach the pontoon to the boat, scuba divers jump in as safety marshals and the horn goes, we are away! We shuffle onto the pontoon and make the 3 foot jump into the water, being careful not to land on anyone, and racing begins. At first people are everywhere and it turns into a mad scramble, we are all swimming over people left, right and to the front, feet being constantly slapped. The water feels fantastic after being on the hot boat and at the first marker, the first bridge, everyone has spread out, swimmers are still visible but the feeling of being alone increases bit by bit and I have the overwhelming feeling I’m a very small fish in a big ocean! This is further confirmed
50% of the team experienced some form of problems including motion sickness, hypothermia and hypoglycaemia!
sickness, hypothermia and hypoglycaemia! The thought of the mass start of 2338 people, for a 6.5km race in a channel so wide that at points you would swim completely alone
and without view of the banks was now hitting home. Despite the beach club music and brightly coloured loungers we were worried.
Later that day the organisers of the race took all the
competitors for a guided tour of the course. This is a safety precaution as the river has strong surface and undercurrents which can be used effectively to pull the swimmers towards the finish, but also get caught in a reverse current or overshoot the finish and have to swim back against it. We picked out our key bearings, points along the bridges and hills to guide us, as once we were in
RADC BULLETIN 2018 23