My swim training started this week…
and the moment I drop into the rhythmic pattern of reach, pull, roll, exhale - I feel at ease.
Written by Mary Letson, founder SwimBowen
I started my swim training this week with easy laps back and forth across Bowen Bay - using mooring buoys as my markers. As always, it’s taken extra focus to get my swim-habit train out of the station, squeeze into my wetsuit (a workout in itself) and submerge into the cool saltiness of our Salish Sea. But as always, the moment I drop into the rhythmic pattern of reach, pull, roll, exhale - I feel at ease. It’s like coming home. I flip onto my back after each lap to rest, surrendering briefly to the gentle roll of the waves and the perfect arch of sky. 1.5 km down, 32 km to go!
A full, in person swim event is again not possible this summer. However, we are undeterred! We will keep the SwimBowen and Cancer Care Fund fires burning with this year's Unevent epic goal to swim a total of 32 km (the distance around Bowen) over the course of the summer. The swims will be in random areas around Bowen (for me mostly Bowen Bay ‘cause it’s across the street) with every swim distance recorded throughout the summer until we have reached 32 km. To be clear, we are not actually circumnavigating Bowen, however we will log the same distance as if we had!
Inspired? Share your swim stories and be entered to win some cool SwimBowen swag! Email us a photo along with a description of what lights you up about your ocean swimming. What gets you in the water? Where’s your favourite place to swim? What’s your favourite workout? We can’t wait to hear from you!
The SwimBowen Society’s mission is to support Bowen Island residents enduring the fulltime work of cancer treatment. Thanks to the generosity of our sponsors, donors and participants, to date the Cancer Care Fund has gifted an incredible $34,500 to Bowen Islanders enduring the much more epic work of getting through cancer treatment. Swimming 32km is a swim in the park in comparison.
Love what we do? You can support SwimBowen Society’s Cancer Care Fund with an online donation. Want to sponsor SwimBowen’s goal to bag 32 km between now and Sept 1? Note in the comments section of your online donation who you are sponsoring to swim 32km!
Oceans of Gratitude,
Mary & the SwimBowen Team
SwimBowen is the only open water swim-specific event in the Gulf Islands. The funds we raise offer support and assistance to people in the midst of cancer treatment.