SwimOut

Mikey and Vicki discuss Pride and open water swimming. Olympian, Peter Prijdekker, shares how he has swum with Pride throughout his life. Vicki has a chat with team-mates from Out To Swim, her LGBTQ+ swimming club. Kerry Andrew reads from their haunting book Skin about a non-binary swimmer looking for their father. Then we find out about swimming with Pride around the country starting with Brighton where we discuss a new idea.  We move to Kendal, where Jonathan Cowie explores how Pride is celebrated in the Lakes. Finally, Vicki goes to the Royal London Docks for the first in a new series of Pride Swims rolling out across the country.

Find out more: ⁠@swimoutpodcast ⁠or ⁠swimout.net

The topic of this episode is grief and how the open water can help to soothe you at this time of crisis and turmoil. Vicki starts by chatting with Shannon House Keegan from Marathon Swim Stories about their stillborn sons. Then Dr Catherine Kelly shares with us the turmoil she felt after her mother died and talks about her book Blue Spaces that explains why and how water can help with grief. Kate Steels joins Vicki to talk about the son she lost to suicide and how swimming the Ice Sevens Challenge helped her to recover. Lastly Vicki talks to Cat Joy White about her beautiful film 54 Days and how taking up open water swimming was a major solace to her after the death of two people she loved.

Find out more ⁠@swimoutpodcast ⁠or ⁠swimout.net⁠

@catherinejoywhite 

@fiftyfourdaysfilm

@international_ice_swimming_association

@bluespaces_uk 

@intrepidwater

Mikey and Vicki discuss the wonderful world of swimming communities. They chat with Rachel Jones who edited Toes in the Water - stories of lives changed by wild swimming. Vicki goes to Mamma Swim and finds out all about their group for mothers who want to swim in the open water. Mikey talks to fellow swimmers at Brighton Swimming Club- the oldest swimming club in England. Bill and Jeff share with us about their project iSwim4 which is for people recovering from substance addiction and Vicki finds out about a film called Rave On For The Avon and its maker Aggie Nyagari and star Meg who decided to become Mrs Avon.

Find out more @swimoutpodcast or swimout.net

Amy Ennion and Vicki explore training for the big swim. They discuss their approaches to training and talk to Shannon House Keegan who works with people remotely. Vicki goes to meet Ray Gibbs who films you in his tank Swim Canary Wharf. Amy discusses training camps with Anna McCarthy, a regular at the infamous Irish swim camps and Mandy Bodemeaid from Dover Channel Training tells us all about their training weekends. Plus we hear from Mark Sheridan about a pool based group which provides support and inspiration and Jonathan Cowie tells us about his struggles with his sofa.

This season has seen a bumper crop of swimming records, so Vicki and Amy have sought out the record-breakers. We have Andy Donaldson who swam all seven of the Seven Oceans in just one year and Sophie Etheridge chats with Jackie Cobell having taken her Longest English Channel Swim mantle away. Jasmine Harrison, who has two Guinness world records, talks about her adventures. We grab a chat with Anshuman Jhingran, the "Little Boy from Mumbai", who snapped up two records in his first year of marathon swimming and we join it all up with Julian Critchlow who gathers in all the English Channel facts and is himself a record holder. It's going to be a smashing episode.

Mikey and Vicki bring you a cornucopia of tales about Mercedes Gleitze, the first British woman to swim the English Channel. With a dramatized section and interviews with her grandson Andrew Pember and bathing historian Anna Maria Mullally the program celebrates this iconic swimmer. We also find out all about the “Swimming a Long Way Together” project, a tribute to Mercedes created by Vanessa Daws. We bring Mercedes' story to life and delve deeper into who she was and the legacy she has left.

In this edition of the SwimOut podcast we explore how swimming can boost our wellbeing and soothe our worries.

Join Mikey and Vicki with special guest Amy – AmySwims as they talk about the challenges they have with how they look. We speak to Gill – Stoma Chameleon about her Channel crossing and Jamie from Blue Mind Men, a mental health swim for men. We find some great swimsuits which bring us joy, made by Usual Objections  and for the more environmental feel-good factor we talk with Angela from Swim Wild Wye who campaigns to keep her river pollution free.

In this episode Vicki meets Chloe McCardel who is the Queen of the Channel - she has swum the English Channel forty four times which is more times than any other person. Also she holds the record for the longest ever sea swim at 124.4 kilometers, taking 41 hours in the Bahamas. She is swimming royalty but also a passionate supporter of Women's rights, always ready to call out injustice.  

Vicki spends a day with Chloe in Weymouth finding out about her swimming, her past and what she is up to in Dorset this summer with her new boat Channel Queen.

In this edition of the SwimOut podcast we explore the joys of swimming in a Relay team.

Join Mikey and Vicki as they talk about Relay swimming and the fun of it. Observer Deborah Vine answers listeners’ questions about the big day and the rules of the swim and Team Bits Missing discuss their North Channel relay swim. Plus we hear from Catherine Stefanutti, Dirk Gewert and more listeners about the joys of Relay swimming.

For more information and longer versions please go to SwimOut.net

In this edition of the SwimOut podcast we explore the challenge of swimming in cold water.

Join Vicki and Jonathan as they talk about thier swimming exploits in Morocco and Cheltenham. Vicki talks to Ger Kennedy about swimming in Antarctica and how it feels to be in water that cold and how to recover. Plus Jonty Warneken and Michelle Lane talk about competing in Team Ice GB.