The Proud Dad!

“Do you feel like a proud dad?”

As I was watching the athletes on the Ironman UK run course on Sunday, one of my fellow Swim Squad gang asked me this question.

He was right.

Eight of the Swim Squad regulars, including five of our coached athletes, as well as others who we’ve worked with in the open water, were out there racing.

I was proud of them all.

And we had a big group of supporters out there too. A lovely Swim Squad community.

In hindsight, I was probably a bit anxious all week, trying to make myself available for any last minute discussions or reassurances. I was excited to see how they would all perform, mixed with some nerves hoping that things would go well.

The ‘proud dad’ comment probably rang true because I’ve worked with most of these athletes for so long (and maybe because they’re all so much younger than me!)

I met all five of our coached athletes in 2020 (Jon, Garry, James, Helen, Christian) working in some capacity with them (coaching, swim squads, open water swimming) since then. I’ve seen their journey, been part of it too.

Also, this is arguably the one of the biggest races in the UK each year, and I was really pleased that we had a lot of athletes in the race from across the Squad.

✅ Swimmers from all four of our lanes raced.

✅ Swimmers from the Monday 8-9pm session, the Monday 9-10pm session and the Wednesday 7.30-9pm session raced.

✅ Swimmers from our open water swim groups raced.

It felt like the Squad was really represented.

So yeah, a real “proud dad” feeling!