‘Now includes brand new WomenOnly event’
Following the success of the 2011 series, which saw over 5,000 swimmers take to the UK’s rivers, lakes and sea the Speedo Open Water Swim Series is back in 2012, with the addition of a brand new event just for women.
The series kicks off with the Eton Swim on Sunday 27th May. The first event takes place at 2012 Olympic venue Dorney Lake and includes the 10 kilometre ‘swimmers marathon’ event, along with multiple distances from 750m up to 3k. According to John Lunt, MD of Series organisers Human Race, the 10k is set to become an iconic feature on the UK’s endurance calendar. “We had 300 swimmers take on the longest distance last year and with the growing popularity of open water swimming, we hope to see even more take on this amazing challenge in 2012.”
Also back again are the three Thames Swims that were so popular in 2011, with the Windsor Swim on the 8th of July and the picturesque Marlow Swim on the 26th August. The latter will see some tweaks to the course following feedback from this year’s event, says Lunt. “We’ll be extending the swim area up stream to give participants more room and to take in more of this perfect location for open water swimming.”
Sandwiched between those two sits the flagship event in the series, the Hampton Court Swim on Sunday 15th July. The 2.25 mile downstream swim from Hampton Court Bridge to Kingston Bridge has become a ‘must do’ for anyone interested in open water swimming and is set to sell out quickly.
Following the success of the WomenOnly Triathlon and WomenOnly Run events organised by Human Race in 2011, the swim series now includes the brand new Speedo WomenOnly Swim on Sunday 10th June. According to Lunt, this event will provide the perfect atmosphere for ladies to get a taste of swimming in open water. “We know open water swimming can be daunting, and the ‘washing machine’ of the start especially, which is exactly why we’ve launched this event just for women. The atmosphere at all of our existing WomenOnly events is always great, we love putting them on and we know more and more women are looking for a new challenge and open water swimming certainly is that!”
The last event of 2012 will see the series take to the sea in the glamorous setting of Sandbanks in Poole on Sunday 16th September. Forming part of the annual WindFest event and with a course that follows the beach along one of the most desirable places of live in the World, this event really is open water swimming with a difference.
The Windsor, Marlow, Poole and WomenOnly events will all include choices of 750m, 1500m and 3k swims while Eton will feature all of those plus the full 10k. Hampton Court is a point-to-point 2.25 mile event.
