Dorset paramedic in 'world first' highest lakes swim challenge
A paramedic will attempt to swim 1,000 metres in each of the highest lakes in Scotland, England, and Wales in under 30 hours.George Bell-Starr, from Dorset, believes he will be the first person to attempt the feat, which will involve swimming in temperatures as low as 6C (43F) in the dark.The majority of the challenge will be on foot, with more than a marathon's worth of hiking and 3,000 metres of elevation to reach the lakes.Mr Bell-Starr is taking on the "tri-lake swim" to raise money for Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance (DSAA), Duckling Pre-School and Cancer Research UK.
He said: "I've swum 500km (310 miles) in 365 days and I've cycled from Aberdeen to Weymouth on a stationary bike whilst working on a ship. "I have had a few friends do the Three Peaks Challenge, and I really love swimming, so I thought about a way of combining the two events. "An evening of Googling later and I cannot find any trace of people swimming in the highest lakes in the three home countries, so the challenge was born."Mr Bell-Starr said he expected the hardest part to be the cold and the dark.
"I anticipate that the lakes will be much colder than the sea, and could be well into the single-figure temperatures, possibly as low as six or seven degrees," he said."I anticipate that the English lake swim will take place in the dark, so my support crew will have to keep an eye on my small reflective safety buoy to keep me safe."He said he was preparing by spending "many hours" on the treadmill and regularly ran 20 to 30km (12-18 miles) a week.
Scotland's - and the UK's - highest lake is Loch Etchachan, in the Cairngorms, at 927m (3,041 ft) above sea level.Llyn Llyffant, in the Carneddau mountains, is the highest in Wales, at 815m (2,674 ft) and Red Tarn in the Lake District is England's highest, at 718m (2,356 ft).
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