The main events
Are events still the route into outdoor swimming? Rowan Clarke investigates
In 2008, the start line at the inaugural Great North Swim was electrified by the jangling nerves of new outdoor swimmers in their new wetsuits. It was the ideal start to their outdoor swimming journey – calm, beautiful, a brilliantly achievable test of nerves as much as ability.
Those mass events were how we started open water swimming back in the day. Among our reasons for signing up, we wanted to improve our fitness and take on a personal challenge. We didn’t expect the many health and wellbeing benefits that came with swimming in open water, but we felt them, and so began our love of swimming outdoors.
It almost feels like that picture has flipped around now. With so many more reasons to starting swimming outdoors and so many options to join friends, organised groups, or go along to a paid venue, are outdoor swimming events still essential?
Setting goals
That very first Great North Swim was modelled on mass participation running events. Attracting a mix of more than two thousand swimmers, from the elite, including five Olympic Open Water medallists, to ‘fun’ swimmers of all ages and abilities, it had a similar vibe to a half marathon.
That’s probably because people signed up for similar reasons to running events – to challenge themselves, stretch their pace or distance, and work towards a goal. It just took place in a lake rather than on tarmac.
“I got into outdoor swimming when a friend signed me up for the first Swim Serpentine as they knew I had started swimming in a pool again after a 30-year break,” says Cathy B, who used to compete as a child. “So, I did an introduction to outdoor swimming in the Lake District and now I enter one or two events every year and swim outdoors a lot.”
Cathy’s story is familiar: a childhood love of swimming rekindled in adulthood. For swimmers like her, taking part in fun, sociable, supportive open water swimming events allow us to swim distances and locations that might not be otherwise achievable. There’s also a commonality in starting with an intention to improve fitness, perhaps when other sports are unavailable because of injury, and then uncovering the many excellent benefits of outdoor swimming.
“As someone who’s just had a total knee replacement and is awaiting doing the other, it’s something I can do that gives me a sense of achievement when I feel like every day is a battle and a struggle,” says Chris O, who values the participatory element of swimming events. “So, weirdly, there is a wellbeing element to it. I like meeting other people, too.”
A changing focus
As the physical and mental health benefits of swimming outdoors became better understood, documented and shared, they stopped being a happy side-effect of participating in swimming events and started being the main reason people got into the water. More and more social groups emerged focusing on immersion, dipping and participation, and soon they overtook events as the main way to access outdoor swimming.
Not that groups and events are mutually exclusive. If anything, groups have contributed to a growth in both the number and scope of outdoor swimming events. This is partly because organisations like The Bluetits put on their own events, but also because event organisers recognised the need to cater for a wider range of swimmers, styles and desires beyond improving speed and endurance.
“Open water swimming is actually what got me into events and not the other way around,” says breaststroke skins swimmer, Esh Amram. “I was looking for a special way to celebrate my 40th birthday in 2023, and came across an article about the Bantham Swoosh and thought that would be a really fun way to celebrate and also a little challenge for myself.”
While iconic swim events like the Bantham Swoosh, Swim Serpentine and Great North Swim continue to thrive, there are now lots of community-focused events such as Level Water’s Wild Swim Relay and the Bradfordon- Avon Slow Swim and Picnic. Moreover, swimming event of all types are more inclusive than ever before.
“I am autistic and struggle with crowds and with social anxiety,” says Esh. “But the Level Water crew have been so welcoming and friendly – they really make me feel comfortable and at home whenever I come to an event.”
“I love swim events because The Bluetits have given me confidence to take part,” says Jaqueline Jones. “I have come last in many of my events but I absolutely love events and it’s great fun coming in last with the safety crew!”
Overcoming challenges
While such growth is wonderful, it’s not easy. Increased knowledge and awareness of the risks around outdoor swimming have led to higher costs and greater risk aversion. This was highlighted last month by the announcement that after a decade of running wonderful swim events on the Thames, Henley Swim would cease trading.
For many, issues of water quality go handin- hand with prohibitive costs of taking part in events. Poor water quality, combined with poor weather, threaten cancellation. And, with organisers having to fork out vast sums to set up and promote events, these cancellations rarely result in entry fees being refunded.
“I’ve done a lot of events, but a few very expensive cancellation experiences have put me off,” says Susan Herts. “I simply can’t afford to write off the entry cost of the event plus the other expenses of attendance.”
For event organisers, the cost of running an event is significant. Insurance, for example, has become more expensive as insurers’ perception of risk has increased and the market has ‘hardened’, meaning insurers are more picky about who they’ll insure and under what conditions.
“The model for big mass events used to be location partnership, title sponsor and then the entry fees, says Colin Hill, the open water visionary behind setting up the Great Swim Series, Chillswim and Swim Serpentine events. “But it’s really hard to get a big sponsor for swims; they’re just not as common anymore. Often you rely on the entry fees alone, which have to cover the infrastructure, safety, crew and equipment on and off the water, a lot of companies just aren’t making a lot of money from them.”
The organisation, promotion and execution of open water events is as involved as it is expensive. Which makes you wonder why anyone puts them on at all.
“It’s hard to explain how complex the organisation of a point to point swim is. Hopefully it looks to participants as if you show up, you swim this glorious route, have a great party, and head off with smiles and memories,” says founder and CEO of the charity Level Water, Ian Thwaites. “But there is genuinely nine to 12 months of work that goes into making that happen – local relationships, landowner permissions, water safety, road closures, coach timetables and medical cover start and finish.”
But, for organisers like Level Water, the benefits are huge. The funds it raises through participant’s sponsorship at its swim events quite simply enable it to operate, running life-changing swimming lessons for children with disabilities. Level Water now teaches 60,000 adapted swimming lessons a year, in 200 pools, almost exclusively supported by fundraisers at swim events.
“I remember very clearly sitting alone after the last person had left on the Sunday – I was in a deck chair with my feet in a paddling pool, and I just sat there for an hour, letting the relief, joy and pride wash over me,” said Ian, reflecting on the joy of successfully running their first Bantham Swoosh where children with disabilities, who’d learned to swim with Level Water, also took part in the Mini Swoosh.
“It was the feeling of everything coming together, a decade of growing and building this charity… and then here we were on the beach, watching the children and their families coming down the river, having their first experience swimming outdoors and finishing the same swim, with our fundraisers who are supporting those kids. It was insane.”
Growing together
It’s these altruistic, community-orientated, joyful reasons that you give for taking part in events, too. In our recent Trends Survey, an overwhelming majority (93%) of us cite the good feeling it gives us as the reason we swim outdoors. This is reflected in our feelings towards events, too, with enjoying the atmosphere and swimming in new places being two of the three main reasons we take part in them.
“I started doing events years ago with the one mile Great London Swim,” says Fiona Irwin. “Nowadays, I tend to do events that are in places where it would be hard to swim without support or permission.” “I do a few but I don’t do them for the distance and time. I only attend ones that are social in nature,” says Allison Carroll. “I’m not interested in speed and distance… I use the events as a way to challenge myself to get out in the world more, have fun and meet up with people rather than challenge myself to go faster.”
So, it’s not about shying away from challenges, rather it’s a broadening of our ideas of what constitutes a challenge. And, beyond motivating us to swim faster or further, swim events continue to support us to expand our horizons in new, fulfilling, fun and interesting ways.
Those of us who do them (just over half of our Trends Survey respondents and a similar proportion of those who contributed to a mini survey on the Outdoor Swimming Society’s Facebook page) value community, participation and new swim spots above racing and endurance.
So much about swimming outdoors has changed since that first Great North Swim in 2008. We know more about its wider benefits for our physical and mental health, we know more about water quality, and we have so many more open water venues and supportive groups.
Events are no longer essential for getting people into open water, but they still play an essential role in outdoor swimming. Of the 500+ people who responded to our mini-survey on the OSS’s Facebook page, 53% do at least one event a year, while 16% have never done an event but would like to.
Like everything else in the world of outdoor swimming, we get back what we put in. So, it’s important that we continue to support swimming events. With such a wonderful range of events to choose from, we can challenge ourselves in ways that suits and benefits us. In return, our participation adds strength to the fight for better water quality, it raises vital funds for charitable causes and it keeps businesses afloat. In that sense, swim events are still essential.
