Events offer so much more than the chance to race

Simon Griffiths laments the closure of Henley Swim and reminds swimmers why it’s important to keep taking part in events and raising your voice for our precious blue spaces

I’m writing this in the shadow of the news that Henley Swim, a provider of beautiful swimming events in the Thames, has stopped trading.

Outdoor Swimmer sponsored the Henley Swim Festival for the past 10 years. We helped create their ‘Suits vs Skins’ challenge and I’ve taken part in many of their swims, including the ‘Unlimited’, which involved trying to swim the mile as many times as I could in six hours, the 13km Thames Marathon and 4:30am Henley Classic. The loss of these events feels like the end of an era.

When we launched Outdoor Swimmer in 2011 (H2Open, back then) we thought of open water swimming events as the entry drug to the world of outdoor swimming. Events were how people discovered the joys of swimming in nature.

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But outdoor swimming has changed massively since then. For example, commercial open water swimming lakes back then were dominated by triathletes in training. Now you will typically find more swimmers. These swimmers are now more likely to swim outdoors year-round instead of waiting for spring. Also, community swimming groups now feature much more prominently than in the past.

These changes have created new entry pathways to outdoor swimming and made the activity more welcoming to people who don’t find events appealing. These are positive changes for swimming. We know from Sport England data that outdoor swimming is growing. But fewer of these people seem to be doing events.

One reason for this is the growing concern about sewage pollution. Our Trends survey shows that the number of people saying worries about pollution often or frequently stops them swimming has doubled in the past five years. The Thames and Thames Water have been a particular focus for campaigners. It’s hard to find swimmers who don’t have some reservations about swimming in our most famous of rivers.

The irony is that we have more information about conditions in the Thames than ever, the water quality can be excellent, and we know what causes a deterioration and to avoid it after heavy rain.

The Henley Swim events played an important role in developing a vibrant swimming community around Henley-on- Thames and beyond. The outpouring of positive comments on social media about these events shows how well loved they were, and how many people discovered outdoor swimming and the beauty of the Thames because of them.

Could it be that Henley Swim is a victim of its own success? By inspiring so many people to swim in the Thames, it helped raise awareness of pollution. As concerns about water quality grew, fewer swimmers felt confident about participating in events, leading to the decline of the initiative that popularised swimming in the Thames in modern times.

Events offer so much more than the chance to race. They introduce you to places you don’t normally swim, allow you to tackle challenging distances with full safety support, and showcase the beauty and importance of our waterways. I love taking part in events and it’s painful to see them struggling.

We therefore urge you to both continue taking part in events and raising your voice for cleaner water. If we don’t use our waterways, the polluters will have less reason to clean them up, and we will have fewer opportunities to enjoy them. Henley Swim may be gone but it has left a powerful legacy. Don’t let that go to waste.

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