Kate, who has worked for Nottinghamshire Hospice for 15 years, completed an outdoor swimming challenge throughout August to raise money for our services. She swam an amazing 5.8km over the course of one month and has raised almost £700 so far!

Kate has worked in a variety of roles over the years (including delivering care in people’s homes, and supporting patients through our Wellbeing offer), so has seen how our care can benefit people in a variety of ways. This motivated her to take on a new challenge for the hospice!

Dipping her toe

Kate started outdoor swimming three years ago, with her first swim being 200m.

Outdoor swimming can be quite the challenge, with Kate saying, “Even though I swim in a lake, there’s still currents and waves. When it’s really windy, it can be like swimming through mud! The temperature of the water can vary a lot – my coldest swim ever was 2.5°C and the warmest was 25°C. My longest swim is currently 1,800m!”

With the average swimming pool temperature being between 25°C and 29°C and a swimming pool length usually being about 25m, that is quite a feat!

Kate in the water

The perfect challenge

Kate usually swims around 500m in one go, so she thought 5km of swimming over one month was the perfect challenge. She had to take into consideration that there may be times when the lake is closed for swimmers due to the weather, as swimming in extreme weather conditions such as thunderstorms is not allowed.

When telling us about outdoor swimming, she said:  “I don’t mind all the different conditions to swim in. Some people say to me, ‘Why are you going swimming outside, it’s raining!’ And I reply that I don’t mind about the rain as I’ll be getting wet anyway! Most of the time I wear a swimming costume, but if it’s too cold, I’ll wear a shorty wetsuit.”

One of Kate’s swimming spots

Into the deep end

Where Kate swims, there are safety measures in place, which is very important to consider.

She explains: “Where I swim, there’s a lifeguard, we have to wear swim caps to be easily seen and we have to swim with a tow float. There are so many people of different abilities who outdoor swim, it’s very inclusive.”

This is not Kate’s first time fundraising for Nottinghamshire Hospice. When asked why she chose to fundraise again, she said: “Our wellbeing patients push themselves to be able to attend our sessions. They have their own battles, so I wanted to do something that would push me out of my comfort zones to repay their efforts.

“Fundraising is so important to ensure our services have enough funding – and to get the word out about Nottinghamshire Hospice!”

Thank you, Kate, for making a splash for Nottinghamshire Hospice!

Get in touch if you fancy taking on a challenge and becoming one of our fantastic fundraisers!