The events have given me an opportunity to challenge myself, to test my limits, to not overthink it and just embrace the adventure.

If I had a daemon I like to think my daemon would be an otter. A rather slow inelegant otter but one who loves the water and is just as...

Two swimmers talk through the reasons to do the Lock to Lock 10k this year, or rather one swimmer tries to persuade her friend to join...

We all have strategies to risk-assess the water every time we swim. Is it clean enough to swim in?

In this podcast Darrin Roles talks about the Lock-to-Lock swim series in the Thames, Oxfordshire, its origins and its development.

open water swimming all year round near the arctic circle

Catch-up on Lock to Lock swim preparation after a long layoff, with Darrin Roles and Stuart Hacker

I love the kick, the buzzing feeling that awakens the whole nervous system and all the senses I love the “I am alive feeling” I get.

The uninitiated, not knowing this beast, may not appreciate the urgency with which cold hands dress themselves. The drop waits for no-one.

Winter swimming is one of the most humbling things you can do, because you can’t succeed if you try to fight the coldness of the water.

Adventure, people, swimming and solitude There are so many things to love about our wonderful sport. I genuinely feel that my own open...

Looking to the other end of a swimming pool can be daunting for some, especially if you have just started swimming. Contemplating a mile...

For as long as I can remember, I have had a deep connection with water – in any form. Something about it draws me close to it,...

Swimming is my joy. It is the time when I feel every bit of my body, and enjoy it in a way that is lost to me when I am on dry land.

A new fable from the river bank

What I feel is taking place in these now frequented open-water swimming spots is not just a connection to the environment but also to each o

“Our last swim,” falls from the lips, muted by what lay ahead in the cold temperatures just yards from the muddy wet cold banks.

We all respond differently to cold water and if you’re new to cold water swimming, its good to get informed.

The internal journey one feels whilst in cold water can be described as very dramatic. And yet the idea is to be completely calm with yourse

Three open water swimmers reveal their primal fears in the water...

I have really missed racing so I was overjoyed to find that the SwimOxford swimrun was going ahead with Covid safety measures in place. I’ve

The Famous Five have been swimming again - but what has Caroline found on the river bank? (Could it solve their kit crisis?)

And so we gather for a night swim, to be lit by a full moon.

They say it’s not the winning, it’s the taking part – but winning is a sweet victory...