Is it clean…?
We all have strategies to risk-assess the water every time we swim. Is it clean enough to swim in?
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Wild Open Swim
Inspirations from swimming through the seasons
The Wild Open Swim Blog is a celebration of open water swimming all year and the photographs, words and artwork that it has inspired.
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Stanley Ulijaszek
May 6, 20213 min read
Swimmingpod podcast: Darrin Roles & the Lock to Lock swim events
In this podcast Darrin Roles talks about the Lock-to-Lock swim series in the Thames, Oxfordshire, its origins and its development.
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Fiona Undrill & Katrine Gotliebsen
Apr 24, 20215 min read
All year swimming in North Norway
open water swimming all year round near the arctic circle
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Darrin Roles & Stuart Hacker
Apr 10, 20215 min read
Swim catch up
Catch-up on Lock to Lock swim preparation after a long layoff, with Darrin Roles and Stuart Hacker
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Annika Surry
Mar 27, 20214 min read
Cold water has changed my life
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.
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Darrin Roles
Mar 13, 20214 min read
For whom the drop calls…
The uninitiated, not knowing this beast, may not appreciate the urgency with which cold hands dress themselves. The drop waits for no-one.
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Stanley Ulijaszek
Feb 27, 20214 min read
Seasoned winter swimming
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.
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Stuart Hacker
Feb 13, 20214 min read
Finding Galilee
Adventure, people, swimming and solitude There are so many things to love about our wonderful sport. I genuinely feel that my own open...
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Darrin Roles
Jan 30, 202112 min read
Channel your energy
Looking to the other end of a swimming pool can be daunting for some, especially if you have just started swimming. Contemplating a mile...
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Emma Hallmark
Dec 19, 20203 min read
The creative flow
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,...
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Shona
Dec 5, 20203 min read
The joy of swimming
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.
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Darrin Roles
Nov 21, 20203 min read
The heart of the matter
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
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Darrin Roles
Nov 6, 20205 min read
Last swim before lockdown .2
“Our last swim,” falls from the lips, muted by what lay ahead in the cold temperatures just yards from the muddy wet cold banks.
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Fiona Undrill
Oct 22, 20206 min read
Cold water & fast currents
We all respond differently to cold water and if you’re new to cold water swimming, its good to get informed.
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Darrin Roles
Oct 22, 20203 min read
The way of cold water
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
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Darrin Roles
Oct 8, 20208 min read
Fear and freedom
Three open water swimmers reveal their primal fears in the water...
228
Michelle Reid
Sep 25, 20205 min read
A local swim-run adventure
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
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Fiona Undrill
Sep 16, 20205 min read
Five go swimming in a river
The Famous Five have been swimming again - but what has Caroline found on the river bank? (Could it solve their kit crisis?)
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Darrin Roles
Sep 3, 20203 min read
Night swim
And so we gather for a night swim, to be lit by a full moon.
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Fiona Undrill
Aug 20, 20204 min read
The Oxford Swim-Run
They say it’s not the winning, it’s the taking part – but winning is a sweet victory...
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kath Fotheringham
Aug 6, 20204 min read
Swimming with fins
Fins are amazingly dynamic – adding a great sense of power that can really enhance your swimming experience.
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Genny Early
Jul 23, 20203 min read
Wildlife and wild swim
From the silty current of the Thames: a wild-swimmer’s view of the wildlife
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Fiona Undrill
Jul 9, 20203 min read
A river ramble
Beyond the bridge, adventure waits until currents have slowed and temperatures lifted.
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