Meet our Guides
Meet the fantastic team of guides who bring your SwimTrek experience to life.
Tellervo Maukonen
Swim history before SwimTrek
I've been swimming as long as I can remember, but my obsession with open water swimming really started in 2011 when I went on my first SwimTrek trip to the Greek Cyclades as a guest. Skip to 2013 (via two more SwimTrek LDTs, a Windermere swim, a couple of Channel Relays, and a solo English Channel swim) when I decided to devote my life to swimming and qualified as a swimming teacher and SwimTrek Guide. I am from Finland originally but I've been based in the UK since 1998.
Locations guided on
Croatia (Dalmatian Coast & Kornati Islands); Mallorca (Coaching, LDT, & Short Escape); Greece (Cyclades & Milos); Lakes of Lithuania; River Thames; Durdle Door; Lake Bled & the Slovenian Alps; Baja Peninsula, Mexico; The Maldives; The Galapagos Islands
Most memorable swim moment
The final few arm pulls before scrambling onto a dry boulder at Cap Gris Nez.
Top swimming tip
Think up songs in your head that match the rhythm of your swim, and sing them while you swim, it's good fun and it helps to fight the demons that creep out of the cold and the fatigue. I'm pretty sure it's also a jellyfish deterrent, but the evidence on that is merely anecdotal, and really quite patchy, it may just be my singing that scares them away...
Interesting fact
When I'm not in the water, I'm thinking about it. I was also the first Finnish Woman to swim the English Channel.
Tim Whitefield
Swim history before SwimTrek
My deep connection with the ocean began as a young kid growing up on the beaches of Durban, South Africa. Endless summers spent surfing or being hurled about in the shore break has left an indelible mark on me and as a result I have spent most of my life either in the sea or on it. I work as a RNLI beach lifeguard as well as operating a water sports adventure company, based in Cornwall.
Locations guided on
Cornwall, Outer Hebrides and Greece Cyclades.
Most memorable swim moment
There’s a lighthouse in Cornwall which has a cave that runs through it. Only accessible at spring low tides, it’s home to packs of seals, almost pitch black with a very small underwater hole as an exit. To return to the shore you have to beat the racing tide or be swept down the coast…epic!!!
Top swimming tip
Relax and enjoy the ride.
Interesting fact about you
If I could surf everyday, I would.
Vicki Linton-Crook
Swim history before SwimTrek
Competed from a young age at national level and progressed into Masters in the last 8 years. I have been consistently ranked in the top three in freestyle and backstroke events over the last few years. Now a GB records holder in 800m & 1500m freestyle, World record holder in 4x100m ladies freestyle relay, GB record holder in 4 x 50m ladies freestyle relay. 3 times European record holder in 4 x 200 ladies relay. Once I tried open water swimming, I got hooked wining the 1500m Windsor River swim and Adur River swim, but there is nothing better than a chilled swim with friends. In 2015 I swam the Gibraltar Straits clocking the 3rd fastest female. It was an amazing swim. In my spare time I love to coach, my aim is to help each individual achieve what they want to achieve with their swimming.
Locations guided on
Croatia, Greece, Malta, Thames, Jurassic Coast, Burgh Island, Loch Ness!!
Most memorable swim moment
Swimming in Lake Garda. Every time I breathed to one side I could see the view down the lake and the amazing mountainous setting, it was magical. A special time as I was swimming with all my friends and my husband was in the safety kayak.
Top swimming tip
We’re all different, find the things you need to work on to make the most of your swimming. Mine are to breathe out and hips up!
Interesting fact
When not swimming or swim coaching I might be found on a mountain bike.
Sarah Huntley
Swim history before SwimTrek
I loved swimming as a kid and remember spending most of my summer holidays in our local pool! I then swum with Hailsham Swimming Club until my teenage years. I re-discovered my love for swimming whilst at university, and played waterpolo for a few years which was great fun. I took up triathlon after graduating from university, and raced up to Half Ironman distance, before deciding to focus on open water swimming. I compete in events up to 10km and completed an English Channel relay swim in August 2018. In 2019, I went back to multi-sport, and raced in the Aquathlon Age-Group World Championships in Spain. Now, I swim for fun and just love being in open water, whatever the weather!
Locations guided on
Lake Bled Slovenia Alps & Ionian Explorer (Sivota, Greece)
Most memorable swim moment
This was during the English Channel relay swim in 2018 - I was lucky enough to be swimming a leg just as the sun was setting. It was an incredible feeling to be out in the middle of the Channel, feeling the last of the sun's warmth on a beautiful August day. I had to pinch myself to make sure it was real and not an elaborate dream!
Top swimming tip
Often in swimming it can become all about racing, results and outcomes. In my day job as a sport psychologist, I encourage people to think about why they swim, and their motivation for doing so. More often than not, it's about the intrinsic enjoyment of being in the water and the physical and psychological benefits gained from spending time in nature and also in water. Sometimes, I have to remind myself just that - swimming for swimming's sake is enough of a reason to swim.
Interesting fact
I am currently converting a Mercedes Sprinter van into a new home - and look forward to spending next summer making the most of being a digital nomad - combined with guiding on a few SwimTrek trips too!
Trina Requena
Growing up on the South Coast, Brighton, meant that the Ocean was a big part of my life. My father apparently threw me in at Croyde Bay, that was my intro to swimming!
My love for the water has taken me on a journey with its ever changing beauty, whether surfing, swimming , diving or simply just being. The Ocean is my refuge, my temple!
I left for New Zealand to become a yoga teacher in 2000. I trained as an Iyengar teacher and over a period of nine years, travelled and lived in NZ, OZ and time in Indonesia. I began to see the incredible connection to swimming/surfing and yoga.
I came back home to Brighton where I started up Ocean Spirit Swim School. Teaching children and adults of all ages. Along side Yoga mixing the two and developing a programme of these two essential disciplines.
The combination of Swimming and Yoga has brought me an awareness of not only myself but how I teach and how I live my life on a daily basis and the environment I find myself in.
It is with this knowledge and passion I want to translate to all I meet.
Swim & Yoga Holidays
I have guided on Swim/Yoga Crete and Lithuania. With many more destinations on the horizon!
Most memorable swim moment
Being six months pregnant with my son, swimming on the South Island where I lived, a little place called Kekerengu on the coast, edge of the pacific, dolphins joining me on my daily morning natural swim, the local Mauri,s say the dolphins sensed my pregnancy! Special, special moment…
Top Swimming Tip
Swimming and Yoga together creates a beautiful swimmer who glides effortlessly and becomes one with the water. My ethos Effortless Effort whether land or sea. Become one with the water…
Interesting fact about you
I was late to see his Holiness the Dali Lama so security rushed me in and I had to sit down in front of him, as I sat down he looked me in the eye and smiled squeezed my arms, my son laying across my heart , he had a smile that filled his whole being!! From then on my practice is to never rush, stay present, stay mindful. Live life to the full, focus on what matters and let go of what doesn’t.
Tom Watt
Founders of ABOVE BELOW, cross country swimming and makers of the RuckRaft® – a simple, two-piece kit to transform any rucksack into a raft to tow across water.
As brothers growing up in Yorkshire, we have always loved adventuring across the landscape, over hills, through forests and of course, swimming in lakes and rivers. For years, on holiday in the Lake District and Scotland we walked around the lakes, wishing we could simply swim across and keep hiking. On holiday in France on the Ardèche Gorge we had the urge to jump in and swim with the flow from one campsite to the next. And on a trip round the Greek Islands in 1996 (on a Big Blue pilgrimage to Amorgos) there were many times a swim looked better than waiting for ferries or boats.
This was how our idea of Cross Country Swimming evolved and Above Below was born. We always saw the water as an opportunity rather than an obstacle. We wanted to just jump in and go from A to B without any limits and take all we needed with us – so we created the RuckRaft® which allows self-supported multi-day trips across land and water.
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