When I entered the Dart 10k in 2014 my aim was to finish last. That is to say I wanted to finish - and fully expected to be among the last to do so. I'd taken up open water swimming a couple of years ago for fitness, fun and relaxation after suddenly discovering I could do distance crawl - and I'd spent the previous winter learning how to breath on both sides. I'm a lot closer to my pension than my graduation so I'm not doing this to be a racer or an athlete.The Dart 10k is the major event organised by the Outdoor Swimming Society and runs from Totnes in Devon half way to Dartmouth. Although on the maps the course appears to be up-stream of the river estuary that runs into the English Channel, in fact the tide sweeps all the way up to Totnes. So the swimmers embark at high tide and hope to get a little help from the ebb of the seawater. But this also means the water you swim in is salty nearly from the start.
