Taking its cue from the huge popularity of target-based sports such as running, Swim Ireland is launching a 12-week training programme, the Swim for a Mile challenge, in tandem with a new Irish Times online course, Get Swimming. Two of our journalists, Conor Pope and Dominique McMullan, will aim to increase their skills and confidence from a few lengths to a full mile, from dipping their toes to taking the plunge. They'll be writing about their experiences every week in The Irish Times Health+Family supplement and on irishtimes.com/getswimming, where we'll have Swim Ireland training plans, video tutorials and our journalism to encourage and enthuse the thousands of people who will take up the challenge throughout Ireland's pools. The course will go live on Feb 24th and will culminate in Swim Ireland's Swim for a Mile event, a series of timed mile-long swims all over the country on Monday, May 18th.
Swim Ireland carried out research in 2012 that showed more than 230,000 adults in Ireland swim every week. The Swim for a Mile challenge is a way to reach these people with advice on training targets and also spark interest among those who have not swum regularly since childhood.
The 1,500-metre swim, just short of a mile, is the longest swimming event at the Olympics. Swim Ireland’s programme of three 45-60 minute training sessions per week will bring people up to the level of fitness where they can swim a mile.
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Along with Pope and McMullan, Matt Cooper of Today FM has signed up for the challenge for the second year. "There are so many running and cycling programmes going on across the country but few swim events where you can get a timed mile," says Trish Mayon of Swim Ireland.
Swim Ireland has produced a guide with advice on getting back into the pool, including swimming tips and what you need to bring to training sessions.
“We find that it isn’t finding a pool that is a problem, as we have 450 local pools in the country,” says Mayon. “People just don’t know where to start or whether their stroke is right, but this programme is structured and will improve your swimming.”