A mother and daughter from Swanley have won a national competition, in conjunction with This Girl Can, to swim a mile in the Thames at The Henley Mile, an open water swimming event to be held on a beautiful stretch of the river in Oxfordshire on 9th July 2017.

Jacquie Yeoman (47) from Swanley entered the competition as a challenge, after she and her daughter Megan (15) had started swimming regularly together to relieve the pressures of work and GCSEs. Although she only entered herself, Henley Swim - the organisers of the competition extended the offer of a place to her daughter as well, and were delighted when Megan agreed to take it up.

Neither Jacquie nor Megan have done any open water swimming before. They will now spend the next 3 months training for the event on Sunday 9th July, along with 4 other women from around the country. All the women will be helped and supported along the way by Henley Swim, and by each other. They are currently getting to know one another through a Facebook group In addition to the training they will be blogging about their adventures. They will be describing in detail all elements of their adventures over the next few months, both positive and negative. Their blog can be found at www.thisgirlcanswim.com along with the blogs from previous year’s swimmers.

This is the third year that Henley Swim and This Girl Can have run this competition, many of the previous swimmers are still involved with the sport, including Alison Baker (61) who has continued to swim outside throughout the winter and Claire Bennett (45) who is currently training for an English Channel Relay.

Henley Swim co-founder Tom Kean says: “Once again we have been overwhelmed by the numbers of women who have entered our This Girl Can competition. This is a hugely important and enjoyable initiative for us, and each year the job of whittling down the entries to our finalist gets bigger. It’s clear there are many different motivations for all our swimmers, but what it does show is how getting outside of your comfort zone adds meaning and excitement to life.

Swimming is one of those rare sports that is truly gender neutral, and with This Girl Can, we hope to introduce more ladies to a sport where they can excel on a personal level.

In 2016, there were more female swimmers than males at the Henley Mile, which bucks the trend for mass participation events and is a statistic of which we are proud”

If you are tempted to swim the event, you can enter the Henley Mile or Half Mile on July 9th at www.henleyswim.com. The Henley Mile is open to men & women and there are a number of races for children aged 8 and above. All races are downstream. Alternatively, come to the event to support the This Girl Can swimmers and to visit the Outdoor Swimmer Show. There are also other attractions and food available making it a perfect family day out by the river.

For more information about The Henley Swim visit www.henleyswim.com Twitter @henleyswim or search The Henley Swim on Facebook

Submitted by Juliet Hume