A passion for open water distance swimming meant Tauranga psychiatrist Dr Bronwyn Copeland was always going to swim Lake Taupō at some stage in her life. The opportunity to use it to support a campaign helping young people to say ‘No’ to methamphetamine was simply too good to pass up.
Bronwyn completed her epic swim in late February and used it to raise funds and awareness for the P Not Once campaign. Founded by Bronwyn’s neighbour and good friend Lavina Good, P Not Once has set out to make short educational videos for social media and a half-hour classroom documentary about the risks and consequences of methamphetamine, or P. Bronwyn’s efforts raised several thousand dollars, enough to start paying for a new video to help parents understand their role in discouraging kids from trying the highly addictive drug.
The epic swim spanned the 40km of Lake Taupō from Turangi to the top of the lake in Taupō. Bronwyn set off at 3 am in 19°C water in the dark. For her swim to be officially recognised as an unassisted swim, according to international rules, it had to be done without a wetsuit, so she spent the 11 hours, 59 minutes and five seconds in the water with no insulation other than a regular swimsuit, cap and goggles and heavy-duty sunscreen.
“It’s not a glamorous sport,” she says. “My skin was very wrinkly when I got out of the water at the end. The sunscreen is called surf mud and has to be pasted on then scraped off like very bad make-up.”
FIRST MAJOR SWIM IN SAMOA
Bronwyn has always been sporty and joined a swim squad at 19, after an injury prevented her from running. This led to triathlons, and at 30, she did her first Ironman event. But swimming appealed the most.
Last year – at 40 – she swam the Apolima Strait, between two islands of Samoa, Upolu and Savai’i, coming first of the ten swimmers competing.
“The sea was really rough and the support crew in the accompanying boat were all seasick. We were swimming against currents and the tides – never again,” she says.
The Samoa swim was 22km so at 40km Lake Taupō was a step up – the longest distance she’d ever swum. It was challenging swimming in the dark for the first few hours, but there were positive aspects too. “Even though it was colder, and fresh water doesn’t have the buoyancy of salt water, you don’t get the chafe and you can drink it when you’re thirsty. I felt very tired at the end but really pleased at how I’d coped. I didn’t expect to enjoy it, but I did.” Of all the swimmers who attempted the Lake crossing this season, Bronwyn swam the fastest time.
BEATING MENTAL EXHAUSTION
Bronwyn’s biggest fear was mental exhaustion. She’d heard from others who had ‘entered a very dark place between the 20-30km mark’ but she was past this when she had her own mental challenge.
“I didn’t think about the enormity of the task, I just did lots of counting to measure distance and to relieve my hip flexors. At 33km I thought I had swum 36km and it was very hard to realise I had to swim a further 7km, not four.”
It helped that she knew so many people were watching the swim and supporting her. “My workmates were all watching, and my daughters’ classes too. Knowing they were able to watch the progress graphic on the P Not Once facebook page and the Givealittle page was great.”
She was supported by New Zealand swimmer Phil Rush, who holds the record for double and triple crossings of the English Channel, a double crossing of Cook Strait and Lake Taupō. Her first ‘meal’ came after an hour in the water, when she swallowed electrolyte gels while treading water.
RAVAGES OF P
The P Not Once cause appealed to Bronwyn on many levels. As a mental health worker in the wider community, she has seen first-hand the terrible effects of methamphetamine addiction. “I see lots of substance abuse problems and they are completely preventable. Young lives are being ruined and as a parent, I want to know that I am doing everything I can to prevent this happening.”
Her two young daughters have already seen the videos made by P Not Once and she is comfortable discouraging them from trying drugs, through graphic images. “I don’t think it’s a problem if they are scared – it’s a scary life if you take drugs.”
THE NEXT CHALLENGE
It’s only a few months since Bronwyn swam Lake Taupō but she has already set her sights on swimming Cook Strait in February 2020. Leading up to this she will do long hours in the pool and more sea swims to train for it. Only one in three swimmers succeed in swimming Cook Strait, where currents and tides have a huge impact. But she’s not one to shy away from a challenge and she firmly believes that anyone can do it, with hard work and dedication.