“I’ve been swimming since I was a child. Never competitively, more for fun. Last year, a former classmate asked me if I would take part in the Gigathlon. As it was to be a team of all former classmates, I spontaneously said yes. One night I dreamt that everyone was swimming around my ears. I woke up drenched in sweat and thought, that’s not how it works. By chance, I heard about Roy Hinnen from an acquaintance. He attends the free weekly swimming lessons with him in Cham. He said I should just come along.
A warm welcome and a quick chat. Roy told me to swim 25 meters and I’d tell you your three main mistakes. No sooner said than done: head down, don’t cross your arms under water and exhale sharply. During the varied interval training sessions, I worked on the mistakes and gradually eradicated them, as well as learning and improving this and that. So the big day came last July: a nine-kilometre swim in the Aare. I asked myself before the start, would I be overtaken by everyone? Would I swim with the crowd? Nothing of the sort; I got into the water and overtook swimmer after swimmer, and of course some of them overtook me too. In the end I finished in the first fifth! I was totally happy, I would never have dreamed of such a good ranking (see above:-). These are the beautiful stories in life. I would like to thank you Roy from the bottom of my heart for making this experience possible. I would never have achieved this performance without your help. And the best thing about it all: the training sessions were always relaxed and the atmosphere was friendly!”
