Presenter's love-hate relationship with swimming

Rena Annobil broadcasts across the South and South East of England

BBC radio presenter Rena Annobil has been talking about her "love-hate" relationship with swimming, as she prepares to take on an epic challenge for Children in Need.

Rena broadcasts her programme across BBC Local radio stations in the South and South East on a Monday night, celebrating South Asian art, culture and music.

She is based in Berkshire and is one of a team of five from BBC Radio Berkshire taking on the Thousand Mile Challenge for Children in Need.

But there were years where Rena did not swim.

Radio station teams across the UK are swimming for Children in Need

She said: "I was a bit of an overweight kid, always picked last for teams and I was very conscious of being seen in a swimming costume.

"I think back now and think, why did that make me stop swimming for years?

"It shouldn't have but that's what happened – I didn’t go for years because of that and I just needed the right swimming costume."

Rena believes things have changed now, with more options available.

She said: "If you're someone who wears a hijab, for example, you can get swimwear that covers you, you can go to women's-only sessions if you feel more comfortable doing that.

"There are options and I don't want anyone to feel like that anymore, that swimming's not for me."

Rena has been training for the challenge, which sees BBC radio stations around the UK joining together to swim a collective 1,000 miles, with each station team attempting to cover 24 miles between the 4 and 8 November.

She said: "I think what I have is stamina, I can just keep going.

"It doesn’t look pretty but I can go for quite a long time."

Statistics show that participation in swimming is significantly lower among people who from black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds.

Figures from Sport England reveal about 95% of black adults and 93% of Asian adults in the UK do not swim.

Sali Shobowale, Phil Mercer and Katherine Bett are also part of the Berkshire team

Rena believes there are a number of reasons why people from the south Asian community have historically not learnt to swim, but says things are changing.

She said: "I think for people of my generation there was an affordability thing, like our parents just came here and there wasn't the time or money for swimming lessons.

"But now I think south Asian people are much more aware of the importance of swimming and sport, so more parents are putting their kids into lessons.

"Also, depending on what your religious background is, you wouldn’t want to be seen in a swimming costume in a mixed gender setting so I think that was a barrier as well, and that's why I think it’s amazing that different kinds of swimwear is out there and it’s amazing there are women-only sessions you can got to, and I just feel more people need to be aware of those."

Rena Annobil said she hoped to inspire others to take up swimming

Rena, a mother of three girls, jumped at the chance to join the swim team and to raise money for Children in Need but also wanted to send a message to her daughters.

"I want them to know that their mum might not be the greatest swimmer in terms of technique but I’m taking on the challenge and I’m just going to push myself, and it's never too late to do that," she said.

Rena has also been chatting about the upcoming challenge and about her training to her radio listeners and is hoping it may also encourage one or two of them to give it a go.

"I would absolutely love it if anything that I said or did or my content of my show inspired other people to take up swimming – I think that would be amazing," she added.

The BBC Radio Berkshire swimming team is Rena Annobil, Phil Mercer, Sali Shobowale, Katherine Bett and Ben Pritchard.

You can hear Rena Annobil on Mondays from 19:00 to 22:00.