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Wall2Wall Swim Relay...weakest link style

Wednesday 24th August 2022

Sunday 21st August witnessed the inaugural 7k Wall 2 Wall swim relay from Brighton Marina to Hove lagoon…in a similar format to the weakest link run race that was recently on Hove Prom!

The event consisted of 8 teams of 3 swimmers racing in 1k relay segments, 2 legs individually, then the final 1k as a pod of three. Eogan McKenna and his renowned enthusiasm and bent for a creative ‘game’ was the driving force behind it all, marshalling the support of his family and friends to ensure it was safe and, dare I say it more importantly, fun!

Much preparation went on behind the scenes from recruiting kayakers (thanks to Megan, Michael and Esme), baking cakes, providing a pop-up BBQ (Jennifer, Lucy, Lynn and Gerry) and being a human transition point…thanks to Lee and Chris and other supporters gallantly waving flags and being visible to the swimmers! But most time was probably spent trying to select evenly matched teams…easier said than done it transpired!

There were many challenges…first off rolling along the Brighton seafront, wetsuited, on your bike is rarely a good look but at 5.30am, and the seafront clubs still in full swing, you’re a sitting duck for drunken comments, the most novel being ‘oi, guys, I’ve just seen a dolphin on a bike…’! I was flattered!

The briefing was brief…swim west to Banjo Groyne…hand over to next swimmer, swim west to somewhere just east of Palace Pier…next leg to just east of West Pier…then to somewhere along Hove Lawns…then Maroccos…then Rockwater…then all in together to finish off as a pod of three at the west end of Hove Lagoon. There was some reluctance to swim the first leg as the sea was a lot choppier than we'd hoped but in we went and then it was just a case of trying to be in the right place at the right time at the transitions…again easier said than done when one needs a ‘Paula Radcliffe’ while wearing a wetsuit, and there isn't an open toilet this side of Worthing! 

As we all wandered along there was a lot of chat and discussion as to who was where in the race, tactics of swimming close to shore or not (one of us got beached on a groyne!)…but in the final reckoning Sam Leader (great to see her again), Hannah (a friend of Val’s) and Gary Moran (a new member and quicker than he’d have you believe!) pipped Geoff M, Elle Breeds and Bobbie Searle to first place. At the other end of the field, or rather beach, Pete E, Jo S-Y and Mike T were in a ding-dong battle with Geoff P, Kym Reeves and Maddi Parmar…least said about the outcome of that the better!

Thanks to everyone involved, but especially Eogan Mckenna, for a great event that could well become a regular ‘fixture’…already a relay round the buoys at King Alfred or Rockwater is being mooted for late September, such was the success of the morning.