Why you should always take your chance
Giveaway winner Hannah Parker shares her UltraSwim 33.3 experience
We teamed up with Red Equipment in the spring of 2025 to create a giveaway where the lucky winner receives Red Equipment products and a free entry to #10Montenegro!
Hannah Parker was our lucky winner and she shares her experience with us in a series of interviews.
Watch Hannah’s interview from #10Montenegro
“I felt that everyone is so generous with their time, experiences and expertise. There’s a real feeling that everyone wants everyone to succeed.”
“I know now that I can achieve things I never though I could”
We’ve interviewed Hannah again, 3 months later
How did you feel when you got back home after the event?
I was glowing for weeks afterwards! It was it was such a brilliant feeling, I didn't really get much of a come down, it was it was brilliant. I felt like we've done something really extraordinary.
What was your best memory of the event?
The best memory of the event was, after the sort of jittery nerves, as we were heading towards the start of the swims both on the second day, as soon as we got in the water James (Bainbridge) started us off and just that that feeling of thinking, oh this is great, this is lovely. That was the best memory for me; those first few strokes of every swim and just that that feeling of excitement of what was to come.
And what was your worst memory?
The worst memory was lying awake almost all night, I think it was the night before the long swim, I was in this absolutely stunningly beautiful room in the world's comfiest bed but not able to sleep because I was way too nervous!
A few months after the event, what is THE key thing you took away from this experience?
Lots of takeaways from the experience, I think the key thing was the joy of setting these big challenges for myself and doing something that's slightly scary, that slightly terrified you and watch how rewarding it is. I think that's the main thing.
Have you kept on training? Has anything changed in your training after achieving longer distances at #10?
I still train, I do something every day, I still swim train probably 3 x a week. I’ve moved to pool training at the moment because the sea is generally too rough so I'm just trying to work on my stroke and technique so I can get stronger and faster.
Do you have a new swimming goal set for 2026?
I'm doing the Scilly Isles which is a 15K swim done in a day but the swim is broken up into chunks. I'm doing that in September this year and I'm hoping, depending on the work schedule, that Montenegro will be next!
Looking back, what would you have done differently before/during the event?
I'm not sure I would have done much differently either before or during the event I felt really prepared, I'd followed the training plan so I felt ready. I think we’d have flown in the day earlier because the landing was really hairy! Maybe I'd also book the massages, that would be really lovely. It was just brilliant it was so, so special.
Are you now taking part in all social media giveaways…just in case?!
I haven’t seen any other social media giveaways that are quite as fantastic as that one but if you know of any please let me know!
Anything you want to add?
It was fabulous, the whole thing was fabulous, I can’t thank all of you enough!
