This week, British extreme swimmer Anna Wardley spoke to students at the IES CTEIB about her Balearic Challenge swim for charity. Some 250 students listened to and questioned Anna about her mammoth swimming challenge.
The 39-year-old long-distance swimmer from Gosport, Hampshire intends to swim the 215km (133 miles) between the Balearic Islands for charity, going from Minorca to Majorca, then Majorca to Ibiza and finally from Ibiza to mainland Spain.
Anna said: “These will be the longest non-stop swims I’ve ever faced.” She is expected swim the route in three stages between September and December.
Previous swims include completing a solo 60-mile (96.6km) non-stop route around the Isle of Wight in 2013. She was the first person in 30 years to make the swim which was the culmination of her Five Island Swim Challenge.
Anna has also swum the English Channel and the Straits of Gibraltar. To date, she has raised more than £65,000 for charities including the Samaritans, Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust and Sail Africa, which offers sailing courses for young people in South Africa.
“I spoke to around 250 students as their end of term guest speaker. After the presentation they asked me to sign a print that they are placing on their 'Hall of Fame' in the students’ library – a great honour.”
The school director Rafel Crespi Terrassa said: "It’s been a genuine pleasure for our to have Anna and her team here for our end of term event. I’d like to thank her for coming to talk about her experiences and her new goals. I don’t have any doubts that our students will take advantage of the values that she has transmitted. We would like Anna to consider our training centre at CTEIB her own home.”
Anna is also the director of Seagrass, which is a PR and event management agency with a difference. Its highly experienced team has worked on a wide range of national and international events from the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games to the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race. It has a strong track record in sports marketing, sponsorship and brand development and works with rights holders and sponsors to get the most out of their events. Its unparalleled international network provides a wealth of opportunities for our clients and it has solid contacts in all major markets around the world.