Pair complete Arctic river swim

TWO friends who completed an Arctic river swim have said they will continue a mission to raise money for the hospice that cared for their loved ones.

Giles Lovegrove, 50, and Dave Wallace, 55, raised more than £1,000 for Sue Ryder when they took on the 24km challenge in the Finnish leg of the Oulanka River in July.

The pair said that they had been motivated to take the plunge after they suffered bereavements of close family members who were cared for by the charity.

Mr Wallace, a business consultant from Henley, said: “It was amazing. The river flow was quite strong but the landscape was totally, totally beautiful and pristine.

“Every now and then I would stick my head up and have a reindeer staring me in the face. It was just absolutely awesome because it was completely unspoilt wilderness.”

He added: “It’s very different to the River Thames.”

The Oulanka River, situated in the Arctic Circle, meanders downhill through forested valleys in the east of Finland before it crosses the Russian border and flows through tundra and lakes.

The swim challenge is taken on by hundreds of people each year.

Although the pair are no strangers to open water swims, having just completed a 15km swim in the Scilly Isles, the cold water of the Oulanka was a new challenge. Mr Wallace said: “I was quite nervous because it’s a long way. But I think the thing I was most worried about was that a couple of weeks before the swim the temperature of the water was, I think, about 12C.

“I thought we may be in the in the water for about eight hours — really, I didn’t know how long we would be.

“But two weeks before the race the sun came out, so by the time we got to the race it was 18C.”

Mr Lovegrove and Mr Wallace finished the swim in six hours and 17 minutes and raised a total of £1,172 for Sue Ryder.

The charity provides end-of-life care to thousands of people every year in and around South Oxfordshire.

For Mr Wallace and Mr Lovegrove, the challenge was an opportunity to remember loved ones lost who received “amazing” care from Sue Ryder.

Mr Wallace swam in memory of his mother Monica Wallace, who died from mesothelioma aged 74, while Mr Lovegrove, swam in memory of his mother-in-law Carol Walker Woodcraft, who was also 74 when she died.

Mr Wallace said: “For me, it’s always upsetting to lose a parent.

“But my mum loved the outdoors, she loved living life to the full and, you know, taking on these sorts of challenges.

“I sort of feel she’s very much with me in them.”

Mr Lovegrove, an architect from Peppard, said the care his mother-in-law received from Sue Ryder had been an “opportunity” the family might otherwise not have had.

Ms Woodcraft received care at home support from hospice nurses at the charity’s palliative care hub in South Oxfordshire.

“They’re amazing,” Mr Lovegrove said.

“She couldn’t have stayed with us at home if the Sue Ryder nurses hadn’t been able to come to us.

“They knew that my wife wanted her mother to be with her at home. She didn’t want her to be in the hospice and my mother-in-law wanted to not be in a hospice too.

“So they gave us the opportunity for her to end her life somewhere she wanted to be.

“Without places like Sue Ryder, that opportunity wouldn’t happen.”

Mr Lovegrove added that he and Mr Wallace were finalising more fundraising challenges for the future.