Dear fellow swimmers
Love your venue – and help us find our next cover star
Last weekend I visited Lake 32 in the Cotswold Water Park. It reminded me how much venues have evolved since 2011, when we
launched Outdoor Swimmer (H2Open, back then).
We launched in February. Back then, the only places that offered winter swimming were those with long winter swimming traditions, such as the Serpentine or the ponds on Hampstead Heath. Commercial venues like Lake 32 would open in April or May. I remember being curious about which would be the first
venue to reopen for the year.
Back then, it's likely that the majority of people using your venue would have been male triathletes wearing wetsuits and swimming front crawl circuits. I know, because I was one of them.
Now, female swimmers are in the majority, non-wetsuit swimming is more common, and there's a greater appreciation of the experiential benefits of outdoor swimming, as well as the training and performance ones.
Venues have adapted by creating community spaces, adding cafes and saunas, and embracing opening year-round. In some
ways, they have become the heart of outdoor swimming in the UK. It's been fascinating to watch the evolution.
Cover image request
Although we've only just published our 'wild winter' November issue (which you can buy here), we're already working hard on our December issue, which has a 'love your venue' theme.
We're therefore looking for a beautiful image for our cover that captures the essence of your venue – one that makes you look twice and think, "I want to swim there."
If you have a high-resolution image you’d be proud to see
published, please send it to editor@outdoorswimmer.com. Make sure it’s your own work, and if swimmers are identifiable, please check they’re happy to be featured. We can’t wait to see what you send.
Winter swimming and public speaking
I was at Lake 32 to give a talk about winter swimming. It later struck me that winter swimming and public speaking have a lot more in common than you might think.
NOWCA Sub 10
Club
Still on the winter swimming theme, NOWCA are re-running their Sub-10 Club again this year.
London joins Swimmable City Alliance
Also good to see this week the news that London Sadik Khan brought City Hall into the Swimmable City Alliance while at C40 World Mayors Summit in Rio de Janeiro.
You can read the full story here.
