Swimmingpod

The gorgeous rivers of England are sick, and I am sick too. Of the politics, of the discharges into the rivers. Of the effluent, both real and that spoken by the

In May 2022, the Serpentine Swimming Club was inducted into the International Marathon Swimmers Hall of Fame (IMSHOF), in Naples, Italy. One Saturday morning following this proud moment, many of  the club’s marathon swimmers came together to be photographed by Anthony Wood, a fellow Serpentine Club Swimmer who’s been photographing life at the club for the past few years, as documented in his Instagram feed @coldwatermornings. This podcast catches the exuberance of the morning’s celebration with many of the clubs’ marathon swimmers as they assembled by the Serpentine Lake in Hyde Park, London, with interviews with some of the many, including multiple solo English Channel swimmer Nick Adams, John Coningham-Rolls, Neil Drinkwater, Robert Fischer, Tom Elliott, Gerald Power-athome, Club President Rob Ouldcott, Judith Charman, Mark Johanssen, James Lythe, James Norton, and the legendary Rosemary George. Marathon swimming defined here as 10 kilometers or more, takes, time, persistence, determination and of course - support. James Norton mentions three that supported him; Volker Koch, Alan Mitchell and Kevin Blick, all marathon swimmers themselves giving up their time to play a modest role in another marathon swimmer’s challenge. ‘Teamwork makes the dream work’ – trite but true.

So many cold water swimmers are non-conformists, but who would have thought of it as a political act? Grace Wright-Arora carried out social research on cold water swimming for her undergraduate dissertation at the University of Bristol. She interviewed outdoor swimmers in London and near Bristol, and found that for many, swimming was a way of resisting norms and structures that confine them in everyday life. Like size-ism, that people have to fit bodily norms dictated to them by health authorities or the fashion industry (strange bedfellows, it seems to me). And linked to that, pool-ism - that you need to have a certain type of body to swim in a pool or run the risk of being judged by others. Or the physical structure of the pool itself, dictating how you can swim –up, then down, then up again, and again and again. Or the political-economic structures that deem it OK to dump raw sewage into rivers. In this podcast, she describes her own cold water swimming history, what took her to study the often personal politics of cold water swimming, and discusses with Stanley Ulijaszek her findings.

It is winter, and there are many winter swimming briefings out there – this is a good thing, people are aware of winter swimming safety. This podcast is a raw recording of the briefing given and embellished by Stanley Ulijaszek and prepared by Jeremy Wellingham, at the annual winter swimming event at Oxford's Port Meadow, the Dodo Swim. It takes the swimmer or dipper through a chronological sequence, from preparation on the day, to immersion and swimming, to ending and getting changed. 

Swimming in moonlight is one of life’s un-buyable treasures. There are twelve full moon opportunities a year, and although the clouds or the rain can sometime put a spoiler on things, you can come away having experienced at the very least a change in routine, and more often than not, a sense of wonder of the world. All it takes is a full moon and some open water to swim in, and of course some friends to share it with. In this podcast, Stanley Ulijaszek describes three very memorable moon-swims: his first ever, in the Thames at Dorchester, Oxfordshire; a recent strange dip at Port Meadow in Oxford; and at the Lido in Venice (which is really a beach). Each is different but all three share a strange enchantment. 

Juliet Turnbull has set up a group called ‘Open Water – Share the Knowledge’, which is about sharing the open water experience that she and others have, with people newly entering open water swimming. As she puts it, promoting positive use of open water. This is needed, after a hot summer of rising water-based fatalities in the UK. Juliet is otherwise known as the Thames Mermaid, and she swims in the River Thames at Molesey and Thames Ditton almost every day. She has swum the length of the non-tidal Thames across two years, and has many swimming achievements under her belt. A very experienced swimmer indeed. There are several organisations in the UK whose remit is the prevention of anti-drowning, so what makes ‘Open Water- Share the Knowledge’ different? Most importantly, builds on the growing expertise in open water among local users, about open water swimmers and paddle boarders sharing their experience, their local knowledge.  In this podcast we talk about river swimming safety, and her ideas for developing ‘Open Water – Share the Knowledge’ alongside other organisations, and with meetings and social media. 

Music is Noe Noe and Watercool Quiet, from Bluedot Sessions 

The Wild Open Swim Blog is the brain child of Kath Fotheringham, Darrin Roles and Fiona Undrill. This now sits under the Swim Oxford banner, the organisation run by Darrin, who created the Wild Swim series, known for being set in locations of natural beauty in West Oxfordshire. The blog is a celebration of open water swimming all year and the photographs, words and artwork that it has inspired. Kath lives and works and swims in and around Oxford. Originally from South Africa, she has embraced swimming in the UK. She is a designer by profession. Fiona Undrill is an Oxford-based primary literacy specialist, publisher, author, researcher, and teacher. She writes books to help with young children’s learning to read, and writes compelling blog posts. Darrin, well, he was born in the village of Eynsham, has travelled widely and returned, making this his home for life. He is a man who sees beauty in the local, and the Lock-to-Lock series of events show-cases the River Thames as it flows by this village and on to Oxford. For this podcast, I meet with the three of them in a cafe in Eynsham, to talk about their collective swimming passion, how it has shaped them, and how it drives their collective project.

The music is 'Noe Noe' and 'Watercool Quiet' from Bluedot sessions. Additional music is Darrin Role's own.   

Conversations that flow through the water, from mother to daughter and back again, almost dream-like. In this podcast I am in conversation with Tess and Judy Bird, both in New England, daughter and mother, both swimmers, sometimes together, most often not. Judy is a life-long swimmer, former life-guard, with an early excitement about open water that has stayed with her since forever. Tess too is a life-long swimmer. 

They share swimming stories with me. Judy – of being in the ocean beyond the breakers, floating, between air and water, where there is a lot of peace. Of swimming in Hawaii with a mother whale and her pup. Of swimming in the Farmington River, going fast and slow all at once, slow on the surface and fast when looking down, an acceleration and deceleration that is completely of the senses, in the mind. Tess talks of a nearby swimming hole by the side of the road in Connecticut where she went with her brother for a spontaneous winter dip, ice cold but before it completely iced over, recovering in the car afterwards. And in childhood of a snake in a deep-nature pond full of pond-life, getting out of the water so quickly to save herself from this creature. Of a water-loving labrador who towed her and her brother around the pond when they were very young. Both Judy and Tess muse on what it has meant to them across the years, swimming, and swimming together, sharing the dreamlike conversations that you have sometimes when in open water. Swimming across a generation. The music is Noe Noe and Watercool Quiet, by Blue Dot Sessions.

I am truly humbled by Sophie Etheridge, and will never ever complain again about the aches and pains in my joints. Sophie is an adaptive athlete, who developed complex regional pain syndrome after a car knocked her off her bike as she was travelling to triathlon training. Now a wheelchair user, Sophie is tough, determined, an achiever, who won back her swimming identity stroke by stroke, swimming through the pain.

In 2021 she swam the Two-Way Windermere, all 21 miles of it. She set up the Adaptive/Disabled Open Water Swimmers (ADOWS) group on Facebook and was astonished by the demand for open water swimming community among those with disabilities. She has only recently started writing about this life-changing accident and how it felt, and about the huge importance of swimming in her life now. I am honoured that she has been open to sharing her experience here on Swimmingpod. 

Tom Elliott and Danny Longman swam all the lakes of the Lake District in four days, and Richard Flint filmed them. In this podcast, Richard, maker of the film ‘As You Lake It’, talks about the process of filming them do it, and Tom talks doing it - swimming the lakes of the Lake District.