Fledgling swimmer takes on open-water challenge

Lola Shopeju hopes to raise over £500 for charity

A hospital administrator from York is taking part in this year's Great North Swim, despite only learning to swim over the past two years.

Lola Shopeju, a Project Support Officer at York Hospital, is taking part in the challenge this weekend to raise money for York & Scarborough Hospitals Charity.

The Great North Swim is a three-day open-water swimming event which takes place in Lake Windermere from Saturday.

Lola says she is ready for the challenge: "In the last two weeks I've built up a massive amount of confidence because I've been swimming in the open water."

The Great North Swim is the UK’s biggest open-water swimming event

In the last two years, Lola has moved to the UK, completed her Master’s degree, started a career as a Project Support Officer at York Hospital, and learnt to swim.

“I have a photograph of myself on my seventh birthday with my feet in water - it was a very memorable event for me," says Lola.

"I have always wanted to swim, so when I moved to York and there was a swimming pool just 10 minutes away from me, it seemed perfect timing."

Lola said she was embarrassed to find herself learning to swim alongside five-year-old children, but overall it has been "a fun experience".

"There have been challenges, but I just kept pushing," says Lola.

Organisers liken the Great North Swim on Lake Windermere to "an open-water adventure"

Described by organisers as a "weekend-long celebration of open-water swimming", participants in the Great North Swim can enter to swim a range of distances, from 250m to 10km.

Lola recently achieved her goal of swimming 400m indoors, and at this weekend's event will be attempting to swim half a mile (800m approx.) in Lake Windermere

As part of her preparations, the NHS worker has been swimming in open water at Pool Bridge Farm, near York, where she trains for up to two hours every week.  

She tops up her training with a further two hours a week at Yearsley Swimming Pool.

"If there's anything I've learnt from swimming, it's that the moment you feel like you can't do it any more, it's the exact moment you should keep going," she says.