Nick Alford

Channel swimmer- From the ordinary to the extraordinary.

Nick’s passion is to inspire people to achieve their maximum potential, “to show the ordinary how they can achieve the extraordinary”.

Nick has been a competition and cold water swimmer for many years and in 2010 Nick successfully completed a crossing of the English Channel as part of a relay team. Inspired by this, in 2011 he planned and led a second successful relay crossing, but felt a yearning to complete this epic challenge as a solo swimmer. In July 2014 under the CS&PF, rules he became the first man that year to successfully solo swim the Channel, raising over £5000 for children’s charities.

Nick spent nearly twenty years working for the Police and UK Government agencies, mainly as an instructor training officers for operations in high risk environments.

In his funny and self-deprecating presentations he reflects on how the commitment, preparation and training elements of his working life helped him prepare for these events. His presentations are tailored to the audience, but look to explore:

• Planning
• Goal setting
• Motivation
• Managing expectations
• Dealing with negativity
• Fear of failure
• Focus
• The importance of teamwork
• Pride in achievement
• Preparing for the next challenge

Nick reflects on how these helped in him to complete his solo swim, but also how he uses these techniques to prepare for his next challenges of rowing the Atlantic and swimming from Europe to Africa across the Gibraltar Strait.