IISA Member Bio

IISA ID:  591
Membership Level Icon
Andrea Hawkins
England
Weymouth
England
Great Britain
Country Association
Great Britain
ICE ID: 206
Gender: Female
Age: 59
Ice Miles: 1
ICE 7s: 1
About Andrea Hawkins
Swimming achievements so far…
I started of small, first in the local pool, then a women soon to become my swim coach mentioned swimming British Heart Foundation 1 mile swim in Weymouth Bay. Initially I thought could I ever do that? I was only swimming 40 lengths in the pool, and I thought that was a lot. I trained for the mile in the pool and did a few swims in the sea before the event. I was so pleased with myself. I think the first time is took me about 50 – 55 minutes. I repeated that a for a few years gradually getting faster. Then I decided a wanted to push myself an swim around Brownsea Island in Poole, Dorset. This was a 4 mile swim so quite a big step up. I trained really hard and completed the event. I was exhausted, but totally hooked on swimming longer distances. I had toyed with the idea of swimming the Channel and decided to myself that if I couldn’t swim Brownsea, then I would just knock that idea on the head, however…….
The Channel needed to be done before my 50th birthday, so not long at all. There was no way I could manage it in time, so I went for a relay. So glad that I did.
Successful Channel 4 person relay on the 20 August 2013. My first epic swim. Met some fantastic people and made some friends for life. I really got the bug for doing longer swims after that. It really wetted my appetite. I remember the emotion of being given the opportunity for all the swimmers to swim ashore after the lead swimmer. My googles were wet on the inside, our legs cut and bleeding after clambering out onto the barnacle covered rocks, but what a fantastic achievement. I loved it.
The following year I then was part of a 4 person relay to swim the length of Loch Ness. Our team of ladies, set 3 records. One for 1st 4 person relay, 1st ladies team and 1st veteran team. That was an incredible experience with some fantastic support from family and the local scout group. A long day and into the night and the worst possible day to have done it, but we did.
A couple of weeks after that I attempted to swim Lake Zurich, a 16.5 mile swim. This was my hardest challenge to date. I swam for 10 hours and was pulled out of the water as I hadn’t made the last check point in time. I was gutted. So very disappointed not to have made it. My husband and son were my support team and did a brilliant job. I had hoped that my son and I would swim in together, but it was not to be….. Zurich is unfinished business. My actual swim was incredible, I was waving to people on the shore and on the boats, (that might have had something to do with my speed) Also at one point as I swam past just one of the beautiful lakeside properties, a man came onto his balcony and clanged the biggest cow bell I had ever seen. My local church would have been proud to have it. The scenery was spectacular. I am hoping to go back, I guess that was my first failure and I didn’t like it. Swimming longer events is sometimes like that, but it make me more determined to get it right the next time.
My most magical swimming experience was for my 50th birthday being able to swim with dolphins. A truly memorable experience, one that I will never forget and will carry with me for ever. Makes my hairs stand on end just thinking about it. Being privileged that a group of dolphins allowed me to swim so closely with them. They swam in such a position to allow me to draft them, so that I could keep it. There were 3, one in front and 1 on either side of me. Looking into my eyes and squeaking and clicking, just beautiful.
My most recent swimming experience is swimming in Poland in a frozen lake. An amazing experience and one that I might get quite addicted too. The event was in Katowice and it was the Winter Silesian Ice swimming championship. I had never been exposed to such cold water, as most of my experience is swimming in the sea. I totally loved it and want to do more....

Ice Miles

  Swim Date Swim
Location
Water
Temp
Wind
Chill
Swim
Dist.
Swim
Time
Body of
Water
Altitude (m)
GPS Latitude
   
1 18 Feb 2017 Hatfield Outdoor Activity ... 4.87°C 6.90°C 1.0000mi 0:43:36 Lake 53.58°N view

IISA 1km Swims

Only IISA Swims <= 5.0°C
  Swim
Date
Event Name Country
Association
Event Venue Swim
Time
Water
Temp
Wind
Chill
Altitude (m)
GPS Latitude
AR ER WR WC    
1 20 Feb 2016 IISA Great Britain IK ... Great Britain Andark Lake, Southampt... 21:33.00 5.00°C 0.00°C           PDF Icon view
2 25 Feb 2018 IISA GB Championships Great Britain Hatfield Outdoor Activ... 23:38.18 3.60°C 1.10°C           PDF Icon view
AR = Age-Group Record
ER = Swim Event Record
WR = World Record
WC = World Championship Record

Short and Other IISA distances

Only IISA Swims <= 5.0°C
Event Distance Swim Date Event Name Event Venue Country
Association
Swim Time
(mm:ss:cc)
Water
Temp
Wind
Chill
Altitude (m)
GPS Latitude
   
500m Freestyle 11 Feb 2017 Ice Cup & GB Ice Swimm... The Cruin, Loch Lomond... Great Britain 15:10.00 4.20°C 0.9°C 56.02°N PDF Icon view
500m Freestyle 25 Feb 2018 IISA GB Championships Hatfield Outdoor Activ... Great Britain 10:46.11 3.60°C 1.1°C 53.58°N PDF Icon view

Qualifying Swims

IISA Qualifying Swims & IISA Event Swims > 5.0°C
  Swim
Date
Swim
Location
Event Name Swim
Distance
Stroke Status Water
Temp
Wind
Chill
Swim
Time
Altitude
(m)
Observer    
1 23 Jan 2016 Clevedon marine lale 1000m Crawl Accepted 5.10°C 0.00°C 25:18.00 - Nancy Farmer PDF Icon view
2 20 Feb 2016 Andark Lake 1000m Crawl Accepted 5.00°C 0.00°C 00:21.33 - Pauline Barker PDF Icon view

Other Swims

Solo
  Swim
Date
Location
(Description)
Time
Taken
Swim
Distance
Avg Dist.
Per Day
Water
Temp
Wind
Chill
Observer /
Witness
Awards  
1 21 Jan 2017 Katowice
(Winter Silesian Ice...)
10:59 500 m - 1.5°C [hi]
0°C [lo]
0°C -   view
2 11 Feb 2017 Loch Lomand
(Ice cup GB Ice championships )
15:10 500 m - 4.2°C [hi]
0°C [lo]
0.9°C Catherine Sunley   view

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