Local endurance swimmer completes training swim

Anna Wardley swims from Cowes to the Needles to prepare for Isle of Wight challenge

Hampshire-based endurance swimmer, Anna Wardley yesterday embarked on a gruelling training swim in preparation for her swim around the Isle of Wight in September as part of her Five Island Swim Challenge.

The Navitus Bay-backed swimmer set off at 12.30pm to swim the 12.5-mile distance between Cowes and The Needles, the first of many training swims she will undertake around the different sectors of the Isle of Wight over the coming weeks as she prepares for her longest ever swim.

The distance of the training swim was less than a quarter of the length of Anna’s ultimate 60 mile, non-stop journey around the coast of the Isle of Wight, which will raise funds for Cowes-based charity, the Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust, as well as the Samaritans and Sail Africa.

Following the swim, Anna commented: “It’s so exciting to be back training in the Solent for my swim round the Isle of Wight after my successful 41-mile swim around Jersey. Yesterday’s swim was invaluable preparation for my final island swim in September, and I’ll be doing training swims round each sector of the island over the next couple of months.

“Swimming in such a unique stretch of water and getting up close and personal with The Needles was an exhilarating experience. I’m hopefully saving the best till last and can’t wait to tackle the full circumference of the Isle of Wight later this year to complete my challenge.”

Mike Unsworth, Project Director Navitus Bay, said: “Anna never fails to impress in both her enthusiasm and her endurance. To put it into perspective, she covered over 12 miles which is the same distance our proposed wind park will be from Bournemouth shore, which is an incredible feat – and this is just the training leg! We are proud to be supporting her efforts and were thrilled to see her performance yesterday.”

A self-taught endurance swimmer, Anna has become an experienced open water veteran and has already swam solo across the English Channel and the Gibraltar Straits, competed at the World Ice Swimming Championships, swam across the Hellespont from Europe to Asia and taken on the 21-mile Double Windermere race in the Lake District.

In addition to sponsoring Anna Wardley’s 60-mile swim around the island, Navitus Bay is also supporting City College Southampton to establish a Studio School on the Isle of Wight and recently announced Yarmouth amongst its shortlist of ports to host the wind park’s operations and maintenance (O&M) functions.