A Marlow woman has won a national competition to swim a mile in the River Thames at an annual event.

The competition run by This Girl Can, sees six women selected to take part in the Outdoor Swimmer Henley Swim Festival.

Claire Street entered the competition in the year that marks the 20th anniversary of her mother’s death and the 10th anniversary of losing her father.

She runs a successful Bucks-based first aid training company, Child Matters, whilst juggling children, home life, work, and exercise but wanted a new challenge to overcome.

As well as free entry into the event, Claire will receive over £500 of kit from Zone3, Zoggs, Dryrobe Selkie and Swim Secure alongside help and support from Henley Swim to help her achieve her goal.

The group will be mentored by ice swimmer Cath Pendleton.

Known as the Merthyr Mermaid, Cath was the first person to swim a mile in the Antarctic Polar Circle.

Claire hopes that winning the competition will inspire other women to take on challenges and try open water swimming, whilst also being a positive role model to her three daughters.

The selected women are now all training for the event both in the pool and in open water and met for the first time last weekend at Queenford Lake for an introduction session.

They were taught tips and techniques to help transition to outdoor swimming, along with very important safety advice.

They had a chance to talk with Cath and get advice on how to take on their specific challenge.

The group is regularly contributing to a blog, which can be found here,  in a bid to inspire others to venture out of their comfort zones.

This Girl Can is the Sport England campaign encouraging women of all ages to be more active.