The Great East Swim returns to the scenic Alton Water reservoir this Saturday for the fifth year - and there is still time to sign up.
Swimmers can either dive into the 1/2-mile, 1-mile, 2-mile or 5km courses.
The event kicks off at 8am on Saturday with the 5km swim, with other distances spaced out throughout the day.
In addition, this year’s Great East Swim will also feature a brand-new 10km marathon swim, which has now reached capacity.
Former figure skater turned triathlete, Lauren Bradswhaw, will be among those taking to the water, using it as preparation for a forthcoming Ironman challenge.
Ten years ago, Lauren was one of the best figure skaters in the world before she switched sports to triathlon.
The 32-year-old, from Bottisham near Newmarket, gradually worked her way through the disciplines before taking on a 3.8km swim, 112-mile cycle and 26.2-mile run as part of her first Ironman triathlon last year.
This weekend she will swim 5km at Alton Water.
Although open-water swimming is a far cry from her previous career, which saw her ranked second in the UK with her skating partner Mark Hanretty, Lauren has taken to the new discipline like a duck to water.
She said: “I competed to a pretty high level in skating. Ultimately, our partnership broke down for many reasons, one being injuries, and we ended up parting ways.
“Unfortunately, in the world of ice dancing there are not very many elite males around – it’s not the most popular sport for men – so I ended up travelling around the world, trying to search for a new partner and, after some time in France and USA, it never worked out.
“My ambition was to get to the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, but it didn’t happen for me.”
Although her skating career was cut short, she continued to run and cycle as a way of keeping fit.
She recalled: “I was doing two of the three [disciplines] anyway, and because I’ve still got a mega competitive drive I thought ‘why not’ – I can channel all my energy into doing that. I taught myself to swim, basically.
“I’d never been to a swim club or anything like that, so I got into the pool, learned how to cope with 400m, did my first novice triathlon and won it.
“I’ve just gone from strength-to-strength, competing at GB age group level. I won bronze at the World Championships in 2014, did my first Ironman last year and completely surpassed the time that I thought I’d do it in. Swimming is not my strongest discipline but part of me doing the 5k swim is to try to make the Ironman swim seem like a piece of cake.”
Lauren, who was a physiotherapist for the Team GB handball squad at the Olympics in 2012, said she is looking forward to the buzz of taking part in a mass participation open-water swimming event.
“It is a great event to be part of – so many people taking part – the atmosphere is really cool,” she added.
The Great East Swim elite race will form part of the European Championships senior and junior selection criteria. The elite race will be held over 5km – three laps of the course – and will feature the best of British swimmers.
This year, on Friday evening as a prelude to the main event, there will be a new Great East Swim/Run including a 5km run and an 800metre open-water swim.
In the lead up to the event, Suffolk Sport, Suffolk County Council and Sport England have been running a joint project offering a number of training programmes across the county to help people get fit for the challenge.
Visit the Great East Swim website for details of how to enter.
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