A West Cumbrian man is set to complete a five day challenge he set himself as he recovers from prostate cancer.
Mark Newby will complete his five days of swimming in Copeland Pool, Whitehaven, today.
The 53-year-old Sellafield project manager is recovering well from prostate cancer following surgery in December, and is trying to raise awareness of the disease.
He was advised by a friend to consult a doctor over a urinary flow problem around three years ago which led to PSA tests and eventually last year the cancer was found.
“Various options were considered but decided to have it removed at Newcastle and now that I’m recovering, getting fitter and stronger all the time, I wanted to do something to raise awareness of the disease,” he says.
“I set myself the challenge of swimming five kilometres in five of the county’s pools for five days in a row, starting on Bank Holiday Monday. My challenge was aptly named 5k-5 pools-5 days.
“The target was five kilometres in each and I’ve managed that comfortably. I think I’m averaging an hour and 20 minutes for each which is fine because I’ve been kindly allowed 90 minutes.”
To get the ball rolling, Mark had a word with friend Garry Schubert, GLL general manager for Allerdale who reached out to the other GLL leisure centres on Mark’s behalf.
Workington, Carlisle, Penrith, Kendal and Copeland leisure centres all backed the challenge and have allowed him to use the pools to complete his challenge and spread the message.
As a swim coach with Workington Amateur Swimming Club at the Workington pool it was appropriate that he started his challenge there, shortly after coaching on Bank Holiday Monday, so was cheered on by several members of the club and their parents.
Mark had started swimming as a youngster, following his brother to the Egremont club and then to Copeland when Whitehaven and Egremont clubs merged. Although he did represent Cumbria at the Northern Counties championships the interest subsided in later teenage years.
The interest in swimming was revived by the emergence of Open Water swimming and a successful entry in the Great North Swim held in Windermere.
Then, with Oceans 7 proving a world-wide challenge to many, Mark and three friends decided that if they couldn’t attempt this challenge due to the amount of time and finances it would take, they would invent their own local version of it.
So Lakes 11 was born. They swam the length of the Lake District’s 11 permissable lakes inside two days, with each making money for different charities. Mark chose the Whitehaven Down’s Syndrome Support Group in memory of his wife’s uncle John who was Down’s Syndrome and had died earlier that year aged 69. Running parallel to Mark’s open water swimming was his participation in Masters Swimming events.
Having qualified and swam for Great Britain Masters at the European Championships in London 2016, Mark was heading for Budapest with Team GB in 2020 but his promising international career was ended by Covid, and subsequently a diagnosis of prostate cancer,
He is currently a parent governor at St Bridget’s Catholic Primary School in Egremont where he leads on special educational needs.
When he came up with the idea of the 5k-5 pools-5 days swim challenge Mark thought a nominal figure of £500 could be raised from his efforts but with one swim left that had surpassed £1,200.
“As well as doing the swims and raising some money, what I have also done is distribute information leaflets and posters at each of the pools emphasising the need for awareness among men over their prostate.
“In my Facebook posts after each swim I have talked about the importance of not ignoring the potential symptoms and doing something about it. If it hadn’t been for a conversation with a mate about my low flow, my story and the outcome from the cancer could have been so different. That’s the message which I want to be heard and followed,” he said.
To learn more about prostate cancer or if you are worried about it, visit prostatecanceruk.org
