Army Swimmers Compete At Inter Corps Championships

The Army Medical Services (AMS) and the Infantry have won titles at the Inter Corps Swimming Championships.

The AMS team won the women’s event in Aldershot while the Infantry took the men’s trophy.

Many of the individuals competing will have been looking to force their way into the Army team for the Inter Services.

One man who was watching closely was the head coach of the Army, Gary Mitchell.

He said: "This is probably the best meet of the year for me to select swimmers.

"The corps has really come on strong.

"As you can see when you look around the pool, we have some big strong teams here.

"Lots of hidden talent suddenly comes out of the woodwork because they have done the preliminary work to get them to the pool."

One swimmer has larger aspirations than just the Army team.

Lance Corporal Kath Baker was part of the winning AMS team and is hoping to compete in the sport on a national level.

She said: "I’d love to qualify for the British Championships again.

"I’m starting my second year at university so it is going to be really busy, but I’m going to try my best to stay at the level I am at.

"I’m looking to improve what I did last year.

"I did the 1,500m freestyle. My age group was 19 years and older. I’m 31 so it was quite hard.

"I came eighth in my age so I did really well."

Lieutenant Colonel Katie Hislop is the manager of the Army Ladies Swimming Team, but she has a different challenge on the horizon.

She is set to compete in the 2020 Marathon des Sables which is a six-day ultramarathon across 156 miles.

The annual race is held in Southern Morocco in the Saraha Desert and is approximately the distance of six regular marathons.

Hislop thinks swimming may help her get the correct fitness levels for the test.

She said: "Swimming has been my passion. It is what I always do and having won the Inter Services with the Ladies team for the past 21 years, I just thought I would do something different.

"I’m hoping the training and the fitness transfers over.

"I’ve always loved swimming so I would never miss the Inter Corps Championships.

"I train about three times a week swimming but I run two or three times a week as well. I also do some other strength and conditioning training.

"Swimming gives you an amazing endurance base and running clearly is the practice you need to get out there and just keep going for long days in the desert."