INDIVIDUAL SPORTING ACHIEVEMENTS
Sevenoaks prides itself on the breadth of its sports , with 23 options . Even so , many students pursue other sporting passions outside school . The sports journalism club spoke to five students who managed notable achievements despite the challenges of the year .
CHANNEL SWIMMING
In October 2020 , after 13 and a half hours of swimming through the dark , through an oil slick , through the shipping channels and right into French waters , at the last minute a big squall blew up and Lara Bartleet ’ s swim was called off with just 750m to go . Lara ( Lower Sixth ) helped to raise £ 8000 for Alzheimer ’ s Society and in June 2021 she and her Channel swim team returned for a successful second attempt . After 14 hours , Lara was the team member who landed in France .
I love open water swimming . You become good friends with the people you swim with , because it ’ s generally safer in groups . The best thing about open water swimming is the community – it ’ s so close knit . You can swim for two minutes or 15 minutes and be really into the timing of the laps and the strategy … or you can just be into nature .
I ’ ve been swimming with people who swim near where I live and I ’ ve never met a group of more accepting people . Our Channel swim
102 SPORT REVIEW