Note: there is an upcoming version of this event. Click here to find out more and take part!
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How come?
Many Hideous events have sprung from a moment of “what if…?” or “I’d like to try…”, and the most recent of these was this week’s birthday swim at Club La Santa: the 1600 IM.
For anyone not familiar with the term IM, that’s an Individual Medley, which is a continuous swim cycling sequentially through butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke and front crawl in equal parts. As far as pool competitions go, events will only offer IMs up to 400m which is 100m of each stroke, and that is a front runner with the 200m butterfly for the most taxing events to race.
1600m IM then would consist of 400m of each stroke, starting with the fly!
The 800m IM 2021
The roots of this 1600m IM can be traced back to a comment by a friend in May 2021: “I’d like to try an 800m IM”. We like to support our friends, and endeavours like this, so naturally five of us found ourselves on poolside at 06:30 on a Monday morning soon afterwards, on a day that just so happened to be my birthday.
It was a great birthday present: it was fun to swim, we all felt a sense of achievement, and you know that you’ve got good friends when they turn up for each other voluntarily at that time in the morning!
It was also a swim consisting of the maximum distance of each stroke ever done in competitions, or in training.
The 1200 IM 2022
As May rolled round again in 2022, facts had to be faced: the 800 had been fun but a new year required a bigger celebration, and so 800m became 1,200m. That was 300m of each stroke – and only three swimmers opted in.
We moved the venue to an evening swim at a heated lido with a comfortably wide lane so as not aggravate any of our fellow swimmers, while we paced the 300m fly through. That was the furthest any of us had ever formally swum butterfly, and needless to say, we were a little worried!
Once again it proved to be a delight. A slow, rolling stroke over that distance gives you plenty of time to connect with your movements and work out some of the niggles. Are you a 1500m swimmer by any chance? Now imagine the same – a journey which starts with the dive and continues with the forever-on in-between. Exactly this, but with a change of stroke every 300m! Delightful!
The before and after photos for this event are wonderful: three slightly trepidatious swimmers with grey clouds in the background, followed by three relieved, and delighted swimmers with beaming sunlight.
After the 1200m IM, our decision was made almost as soon as we were out of the pool: 1600m IM next year. A round number for my 30th birthday and a round mile of IM seemed too good to miss.
1600 IM 2023
By complete coincidence, the first post-Covid swim camp of our swimming club had just fallen on the week after my birthday, and here was the perfect opportunity to share the enjoyment.
We spent a week sowing seeds of thought and hearing very mixed responses. Yeah… no… I mean… you’re bonkers, right?!!
I did not expect to turn the corner to see around 30 swimmers by the poolside ready to swim or cheer.
The event was swum under International Hideous Rules: the purpose of the event is enjoyment and completion not to be the first to finish, and each length must be started and completed on full stroke but the rest is between you and the water.
A fabulous 14 swimmers completed the 1,600m IM swim, with people even moving from spectating to swimmers as they felt the urge to join in. Who knew FOMO was such a powerful factor?!
This was my favourite swim of this swim camp. An absolute pleasure to share the swim with so many positive people, all enthusiastically supporting each other, taking on the challenge in their own personal ways, not to mention bringing along the odd choreographed IM cheerleading routine!
What a swim. How joyful, and how I appreciate each and every participant. It was great to do this together.
2000m IM next year, if you fancy.
Thank you! Love you all.
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