Cold salty water, big waves, poor visibility – these were the conditions the 20 swimmers from Venezuela and Mexico faced during the joint training weekend in the end of January in Isla Margarita. “If you can swim in this cold, dark, rough sea, you can swim anywhere”, says Everth, trainer from Venezuela, who is very proud of the performance of the 20 Venezuelan and Mexican haemophilia patients and carriers.

“They are in shape and have reduced the percentage of fat and increased their muscle mass.  This is due to the discipline and the nutrition – they need to keep it”, says Dr Sergio Gadea, sports medicine doctor from Mexico. It is a “desafío” – the Spanish word for challenge – for all those involved.

The training in Isla Margarita was an excellent opportunity for the teams of both countries to meet and become one team. They had been training in swimming pools and open water for over 7 months each in their country and had been in touch over Facebook and Skype. “I am really excited to meet my Mexican teammates and become friends”, says Nohemi, a carrier from Venezuela.

The logistical amount of work to organise such open water training was huge. The swimmers travelled for several hours from different cities in Mexico to take the plane from Mexico City to Caracas. The Venezuelans also gathered in Caracas from all parts of the country. “We were happy to see all of them arriving safely in the hotel in Caracas on Thursday”, says Antonia Luque from the Venezuelan Patient Association (AVH).

Day one started with evaluations by the medical team in the Blood Bank and Rehabilitation Centre in Caracas. “It is a pleasure to see how the patients have changed their lifestyle – one of them has lost 17 kg since he joined the project. This result is of course an eye opener for everybody”, says Dr Apsara Boadas, haematologist participating in the project. Apart from that, the physiatrist Dr María Matilde Rosas presented excellent improvements: “Most of the swimmers have improved around 40% muscle strength in their quadriceps and isquiotibialis since the beginning of the project”.

To break the ice and get all the swimmers to get to know each other, the psychologist Francis Salazar led several team building activities with the whole team. “One of the tasks was to create a song describing the Desafío del Caribe project. It was fun to perform the song including a dance”, says Luis Edmundo, swimmer from Mexico.

Friday early morning was departure time to head to Isla Margarita for everybody including the swimmers, patient association representatives from  both countries, two nurses, three trainers, a physiatrist and a sports medicine doctor.

Usually tourists from all over the world visit Isla Margarita to find some rest and relaxation with nothing to disturb them except the sound of the occasional breeze rustling through the palm trees. However, the swimmers did not have the time to enjoy this – a tough programme was awaiting them with three open water sessions and also training in the pool. In between there was time to do psychological evaluations and physiological checks.

“We are taking the swimmers into the water with all the safety precautions and medical surveillance needed. We have to stay disciplined and think of all the details in order to continue”, says Carlos Gaitán, organiser and President of the Mexican patient association (FHRM). “The swimmers are concentrated on their routine and we are concentrated on the logistical and safety aspects”, adds Cesar Garrido, organiser and representative of the AVH.

After a packed weekend with lots of exciting activities, everybody returned to their homes highly motivated to continue the challenge, having shared many valuable experiences. The whole team is getting ready for the big competition day in Cancun on 23 June 2012 where they will swim 3 km in the sea from Cancun to Isla Mujeres. We wish them all the best!