Mytime Active Stories - Rachael

Swimming against the tide – from Mytime Active pools to the English Channel

When Rachael first signed up for SwimFit classes with Mytime Active back in 2017, she wasn’t aiming for the English Channel, she simply wanted to be a better swimmer. Despite having learnt to swim as a child, Rachael says her only half decent stroke was breaststroke, head held firmly above the water with no real technique. And whilst she could manage a few lengths up and down, she couldn’t do front crawl and lacked both confidence and stamina. But with the help of her Mytime Active SwimFit instructor, Kirsty, she learned how to breathe, how to move more efficiently and, importantly, how to believe she could keep going.

Rachael explains: “The weekly sessions are structured, challenging and fun. For instance, we might complete eight lengths at a steady pace, four at a medium pace and two lengths at a strong pace, followed by drills with flippers. There was certainly no monotonous up and down, backwards and forwards; I even learnt butterfly stoke. SwimFit gave me variety and focus, mixing it up but really pushing us, exactly like a class in the group exercise studio”.

Rachael has always loved a challenge. She had already run a marathon, and before long signed up for a mile and then a two-mile swim; something she’d have never dreamed possible before her SwimFit sessions. And although all swimming stopped when Covid hit, as soon as the pools reopened Rachael returned to SwimFit with a new focus – swimming the English Channel.

“I had wanted to swim the Channel forever, even before I could properly swim,” she says. “It felt like a real challenge; something not many people have done. I had my 50th birthday milestone on its way and desperately wanted to raise funds for the spinal injury charity, Aspire, as my cousin was paralysed from the neck down after falling from her bike during lockdown.”

The training was relentless. From November through to July Rachael swam in Mytime Active’s pools, and also spent three long weekends with the relay team Aspire paired her up with, training in the sea at Dover. “From Friday to Sunday we immersed ourselves in the freezing water for an hour at a time. It was so cold and choppy, I was even sick in the water,” she remembers. “It made me realise the swim itself wouldn’t be the only challenge. Without acclimatisation training, you would never even cope with the temperature of the water, as the swim doesn’t officially count if you’re wearing a wetsuit. I would go and sit in a bath full of cold water for an hour at a time. Add to that sea sickness, lack of sleep, jellyfish and the waves…it was tough!”

On 23 July 2025, Rachael and her five teammates set out from Dover, each taking one hour shifts in the water whilst a boat guided them across the channel. “We completed the 22-mile challenge in just under 14 hours and 38 minutes,” she says.  “I vomited seven times from the rocking boat and was stung on the face and the arm by jelly fish – near the end they were everywhere! But every one of us pushed through. It wasn’t about speed or perfection; it was about proving to ourselves that we could do it”.

Rachael raised £3,500 for Aspire in honour of her cousin and along the way inspired others to give swimming a go, from people who had previously never set foot in a pool to a work colleague who took up swimming lessons for the first time.

“SwimFit played a massive part in helping me achieve my goal,” Rachael reflects. “Without the structured training, the drills and the encouragement from Kirsty, I would still be swimming breaststroke up and down the pool, with my head out of the water! SwimFit gave me the strength and technique I needed and, most importantly, it gave me belief in myself”.