Thank you to all my guests for Season 5... what a magical season it was.

If you are planning an Open Water swim: whether it is the English Channel or perhaps your first 5km lake swim, please get in touch as would love to work with you. Please visit owswimpod.com for all the coaching packages I am offering, and a way to contact me.

Until the next time: Happy Swimming!

(Available to subscribers only, episode free to play 4th April)

My final guest for the season is an astonishing endurance athlete and swimmer. He has rowed across the Indian Ocean; and then decided quite casually to swim the Ocean 7, completing all seven swims from 2012 to 2018… Since then he has pioneered some ridiculous swims: including, in 2018 swimming a 90km circumnavigation around Barbados in 40 hours 46 minutes; and in 2019 he swam the 150km from Barbados to St. Lucia, a swim that took him just under 57 hours. Most recently he swam a 53 km crossing of Lake Issyk Kul in Kyrgyzstan in 18 hours 18 minutes, raising money for his own charity to support 15 rural schools in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. I so enjoyed this chat, it was so inspiring: I think you’ll be amazed at his temperament - oh and don’t miss the part about being stung by box jellyfish… it’s the legendary Cameron Bellamy.

Kyrgyzstan Swim (YouTube):

https://youtu.be/tz0Irv5QJQ0?si=9mkMEgeBTByIpz20

The Ubunye Challenge (YouTube):

https://youtu.be/Th7b1KglbrY?si=Fix-R_GocThvpwY7

(Episode available to subscribers only. Free to play at end of Season 5.)

I chatted to this extraordinary swimmer back in 2024, after she had swam the 70km of Lake Geneva: breaking the British Record at the time. We also crewed together for Andrew Cornish’s Lake Geneva swim in September 2025 (Episode 6 of Season 5) and having her experience, nous and professionalism on the boat made all the difference to keeping Andy in the water. She has swam some superb swims as well, including The English Channel, Guernsey to France, Lake Windermere, SCAR and most recently Loch Ness… It’s of course Amy Ennion!

(Available to subscribers only, episode free to play 21st March)

Today’s guest is a phenomenal swimmer, who relishes the cold: she has completed the British Triple Crown, the English Channel, Bristol Channel and the gnarly North Channel: which she swam after being blown out for a year, only to break a record and become the earliest female, swimming that stretch of water in just under 19 hours in 12 degrees of water. An incredible swim. She has swam three ice miles, and also completed the chilly Loch Ness in 18 hours… it’s Dr Jo Stokoe!

(Available to subscribers only, episode free to play 28th March)

This guest is an incredible Para Swimmer… Ros Hardiman has spent most of her adult life in a wheelchair, having contracted Polio at age 6. She represented GB at 2 Paralympic Games and broke 8 Paralympic world records in the S7 and SB6 categories. She is an inductee into the marathon swimming hall of fame, class of 2024: having swam The English Channel in 2009 in just over 20 hours; and it is also with noting that the year prior to that in 2008, she agonisingly fell 700m short of the French coast after being in the water for over 24 hours. For that swim she was awarded the Frank Richards Endurance Award, for the most meritorious, often unsuccessful, endurance swim of the year across the English Channel… She has swam Lake Windermere (both directions), and in 2019 she crossed Loch Ness from south to north in 20 hours 10 minutes becoming both the oldest British women to swim it at the age of 67, and also as the first disabled swimmer… it was an absolute joy to chat to Ros Hardiman.

(Available to subscribers only until the end of Season 5)

This guest is a fellow podcaster, and marathon swimmer who has been undertaking some extremely long challenges… we chat about hallucinating on a 29 hour swim, optimising efficiency as a swimmer to mitigate volume, letting go of the idea of a secret key to completing a long swim, what swimming means to you as you get older and the mental gymnastics of planning bonkers swims. It’s Shannon Keegan!

(Available to subscribers, episode free to play 14th March)

This episode is with Francesco Cavliere, he is an Italian marathon swimmer, who swims totally self supported and his approach to swimming is often referred to as "Swim & Explore”. Francesco likes to emphasise the environmental and historical context of the places he swims, treating swimming as a means of discovery rather than just a sport… he runs swimming excursions throughout the Mediterranean and he has designed his own fibre glass tow boats - called “barquinos” that obviously carry all his gear. He has swam the coastlines of all 44 of the Italian islands in an epic 13 year feat… and needless to say he has endless stories to tell about the beautiful Mediterranean. I am just sad we couldn’t get more into the episode… I hope you enjoy!

(Subscribers only from 28th Feb, free to play 7th March)

I have been wanting to get Brenton on the podcast for some time - I am a big fan of his YouTube channel “Effortless Swimming” and he pops up very regularly across social media showing off his coaching talents. He very nearly made Olympic trials as a swimmer - as an Australian, a huge achievement, where competition is more than fierce; and not that long ago swam the 20km of the famous Rottnest swim… He is a National Masters Record Holder and was Australian National Masters Coach of the Year in 2012. He is now a full time coach, running clinics, camps and a masters group, and his story is about staying in something you love, helping others achieve their goals; how difficult it is to heed your own advice as a coach, and building a brand and business around our sport. Brenton Ford!

(Available to Subscribers only until end of Season 5).

I chatted to Colin a while ago in 2022, a man who lives right on the water at Ullswater Lake and also teaches there at his endless pool… He is no stranger to long mileage, clocking up some ridiculous distances, including a 200km a month, and not long ago hit a 100km week. In 2025 he swam the Cook Straight and also the 28 miles of The 20 Bridges of Manhattan, and is an International Marathon Swimming & Ice Swimming Hall of Fame Inductee. You may find him working for FINA at the elite events and if you frequent any of the Lake District Lakes, you may find him in the water with you, as the man loves nothing more than training: It’s Colin Hill…

(Subscribers only from 28th Feb, free to play 7th March)

I have been wanting to get Brenton on the podcast for some time - I am a big fan of his YouTube channel “Effortless Swimming” and he pops up very regularly across social media showing off his coaching talents. He very nearly made Olympic trials as a swimmer - as an Australian, a huge achievement, where competition is more than fierce; and not that long ago swam the 20km of the famous Rottnest swim… He is a National Masters Record Holder and was Australian National Masters Coach of the Year in 2012. He is now a full time coach, running clinics, camps and a masters group, and his story is about staying in something you love, helping others achieve their goals; how difficult it is to heed your own advice as a coach, and building a brand and business around our sport. Brenton Ford!