Peterborough woman to swim the length of Loch Ness in memory of her sister

Helen Smith (54), who is the Head of Audit at Taylor Rose MW based at Stuart House, is taking on the 22.5 mile swim in memory of her younger sister Heather, who passed away at aged 36 in December 2009 while undergoing a routine procedure in hospital. Her death was caused by a heart condition the family knew nothing about.

Almost eight years ago, Helen and her sister Hayley decided that they would raise funds for the British Heart Foundation in memory of Heather and in that time have, remarkably, raised over £23,000.

They began by taking part in the Marlow Open Water one-mile swim and since then, have upped the ante every year, completing longer and more challenging swims; culminating in a two-person England Channel relay in 2017, which they completed in 19 hours and 19 minutes.

In 2019, Helen then completed two ‘Ice Miles’- which involves swimming one mine in sub-5 degree water, becoming only the 100th person in England, and 299th globally, to do so.

Helen and Hayley also compete in competitions under the team name ‘Atich Sea Jays’, with organisers frequently happy to award them a third medal and lay some flowers in the water along the route in memory of Heather. These are then taken to Cyprus each year, where the sisters visit a small jetty where some of Heather’s ashes were placed and they share stories and leave behind a collection of medals for their ‘mermaid’ to enjoy.

Helen had planned to take on the Loch Ness challenge last year but, due to the pandemic, the swim was delayed until this year.

In that time, she managed to keep up her training, despite the closure of pools, by completing land training and river swims. In preparation, Helen has swam the length of Ullswater (7.5 miles) in the Lake District in 6 hours and 25 minutes and Windermere (10.5 miles) in 9 hours and 50 minutes.

Helen will be supported by a pilot and crew, as well as everyone at Taylor Rose, who have sponsored team hoodies for the crew to wear and helped Helen raise over £700 so far.

She will complete the challenge between August 21 and 29, depending on whichever day has the most favourable weather conditions.

Helen said: “They say you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone. I never realised how true that was until I received a phone call to say that my sister had died. She was 36. It shook me to the core. Even to this day, I am left with ‘what ifs’ and ‘if onlys’… they replay constantly in my mind.

“Swimming became the only place where I could find peace. I cried a lot and I shouted underwater where no one could see or hear me. But mostly, I just talked to her - long conversations where we would plan the most amazing adventures and replay all the silly things we used to do when we were kids.

“Raising money for the British Heart Foundation in Heather’s memory has become such an important part of my life. After swimming the English Channel with Hayley in 2017 it took some time for me to decide what my next challenge should be. Having swum through the winter for a couple of years it became clear that I felt most at home in cold water. So, after 2 Ice Miles in February 2019, I dragged Hayley up to Loch Ness in April in search of Nessie.

“Unfortunately, she was nowhere to be seen but the Loch was mesmerising! To be fair, we only swam in a couple of spots so if I’m to have any chance of finding her, I will need to swim the whole length in one go. So that is what I planned to do in August 2020. Sadly Covid put pay to my plans and I had to move my swim to August 2021. I have continued to train, adapting my plan to land based activities and swimming whenever and wherever lockdown restrictions allowed.

“I can’t change history and nothing I do will bring Heather back but if I can raise some much needed money for the British Heart Foundation in Heather’s memory, I know how proud she will be. That alone makes me so happy.”

To support Helen’s latest challenge, visit https://giftofhope.bhf.org.uk/Event/Helens-Loch-Ness-Swim.