Fear not, dear reader, I have returned. After a prolonged absence due to a sporting injury of my own I am now able to type once more... and it transpires that there has been no dearth of strange sporting occurrences during my recovery.
Butterfly is not always the stroke of choice for swimmers, many of whom prefer the gentler action of front crawl, back crawl or breaststroke. However, according to the BBC, Dr Julie Bradshaw has racked up her 20th world record swimming butterfly around Manhattan Island in New York.
The Loughborough-based lady had attempted the feat before, in 2004, but a thunder storm put pay to it. This time, however, the time seemed to fly-by as she became the fastest woman to achieve the feat using this stroke, with a time of nine hours, 28 minutes and 37 seconds.
It isn’t the first time that Bradshaw, who raised money Rainbows Children’s Hospice in Loughborough, has made a splash in the swimming world. In 2006 she was awarded an MBE for services to swimming and charity fundraising.
