All About Ali!

I’m a student studying economics at Warwick University.  “Home” is Winchester in Hampshire where I’ve lived since I was four years old with Mum and Dad and my two older sisters, Jo and Sarah.  Before Uni I had a gap year which included a brilliant five month ski season in France (not much opportunity for swimming there!)   I went to Peter Symonds College in the sixth form and before that to Kings’ School.

I’ve been swimming for as long as I can remember – apparently my older sister was having a lesson and Mum just decided to dip me in!  One of my first memories of swimming was on holiday in Italy.  It was the summer before I started school and the pool was much too deep for me to stand.  I spent some time wearing the dreaded arm bands but most of the time people held me and I learned to keep up with the older children.  One day I decided I wanted to swim around the edge of the pool and I was clapped and cheered as I progressed unaided all the way round.  I guess that 70 metres was my first long distance challenge!

After that I had lessons at our local leisure centre before joining Winchester City Penguins Swimming Club when I was eight years old.  As a competitive swimmer for many years, I got used to long periods of time in the pool - and hard training.  Combined with schoolwork it didn’t leave much time for relaxation, yet it was always my choice to remain busy as the training was something I enjoyed. 

As I grew older my dreams of Olympic glory became tempered by reality and I stopped caring so much about PBs and reducing hundredths of seconds.  With this shift in emphasis came the chance to start swimming teaching and sharing, not only my knowledge of swimming, but also my love and enthusiasm for the water with younger swimmers. It’s an aspect of swimming that I really enjoy and last year I was excited to gain my Level 2 teaching qualification.

My first taste of open water swimming was in the summer of 2007 when I joined my Mum for a British Heart Foundation charity swim one mile across Weymouth bay.  I cannot say I was immediately grabbed by the sea-swimming bug.  But for someone who had been known to refuse to paddle in the sea due to fear of sharks, it was a major step forward.

Swimming will always be a massive part of who I am, but as I reached the 6th form and became one of the oldest members of the swimming club I knew I had to make a decision.  Do I let swimming become a ‘just for fitness’ thing? Or do I go for my ultimate goal and pursue the ambition that had been growing in the back of my mind?

The decision was finally made as I got to know a new friend during last winter’s ski season.  She had completed a Channel swim the previous summer and the coincidence seemed just too much to ignore!  With her ‘been there, done that’ knowledge and support I booked a pilot boat in February 2009.