At 6:50am on her 60th birthday, Saturday 12 July, Clair Harris entered Lake Windermere to start ‘The 13’ challenge – swimming 71km, the full length of all 13 publicly accessible lakes in the Lake District. If this wasn’t enough, she cycled the 185km between them as well, finishing in 84 hours. Clair tells us what motivated her to take on this incredible challenge, which had previously only been completed by three people.
Clair takes on ‘The 13’ swim challenge for friend living with GNE myopathy
Originally, I was inspired by Kevin Sinfield and everything he did to raise money and awareness for Motor Neurone Disease (MND) in honour of his friend Rob Burrow. I thought I could do something similar, on a smaller scale, for Muscular Dystrophy UK and my friend Nausheen, who lives with the muscle weakening condition GNE myopathy.
Nausheen and I work together and have been good friends for 10 years. We met at the school where I teach; Nausheen used to work as a Teaching Assistant but now has a desk-based role at the school.
“I’ve watched her journey living with GNE myopathy and have been saddened to see how this terrible degenerative condition has affected her life and restricted her mobility and independence over the years.”
But what always strikes me about Nausheen is that’s she’s so positive. She never complains about her condition and is the loveliest person. Nothing is too much trouble, and she does so much for other people. This was my chance to do something for her.
The 13 is a swim challenge created by Danny Longman and Tom Elliott in 2018. The challenge is to swim the full length of all 13 publicly accessible lakes in the Lake District as quickly as possible, with the clock starting when the swimmer enters the first lake. Before me, the challenge had been officially completed by three people – Danny Longman in 2019 and 2021, George Taplin in 2020, and Matt Dawson in 2023, who were fundraising for different charities.
“I’ve been swimming since I was 13 and have swum Lake Windermere several times. But this was definitely the biggest physical challenge of my life.”
The idea of taking on ‘The 13’ is something I had been harbouring for a while. Three or four years ago, my husband showed me a video of the first person who did the challenge in 2019, Danny Longman, and I said, ‘I’d like to do that one day’.
Then I thought, why not do it for my 60th birthday. At the time, my husband probably didn’t imagine it would result in me spending our 30th wedding anniversary swimming in a lake while he stood in the rain waving at me!
I was accompanied by a support team of family and friends, some of whom joined me for parts of the challenge – swimming or kayaking alongside me and cycling between the lakes. The camaraderie was special. Some of the people I train with at Bray Lake came along to swim some of the lakes with me and that support really motivated me. That, and thinking of my friend Nausheen. She sent me messages of encouragement throughout the challenge, which helped me through some difficult moments.
I recorded a time of 84 hours from entering the first lake on 12 July to completing Lake 13 on 15 July, cycling between them.
“I’m now listed in ‘The 13’ Hall of Fame as the first woman, and the first non-wetsuit swimmer, to have officially completed the challenge.”
And thanks to people’s generous donations, I’ve managed to exceed my fundraising expectations for Muscular Dystrophy UK, to help fund research and support for people like my good friend Nausheen who are living with muscle wasting conditions.
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