The UK Cold Water Swimming Championships 2025
I’m still reflecting on the fact I am a UK Cold Water Swimming Champion! Here is a blog piece about what the event is and how it felt to take part in it.
UK Cold Water Swimming Championships
The Champs was billed as representing “much more than just a swim meet – it’s a chance for the international swimming community to meet the amazing local community, forging friendships for life.” With this in mind, myself and a group of local Bluetits decided we would all enter this year.
It was held on Saturday 25 January 2025 by the South London Swimming Club (SLSC), a members’ club whose home is Tooting Bec Lido, the largest outdoor lido in the UK. They are one of England’s oldest swimming clubs, founded in 1906. Anyone can enter, you don’t need to be an SLSC member. We knew the water would be cold (around 1-5ºC) and you needed to be acclimatised to cold water before taking part.
Tooting Bec Lido is the largest fresh water pool in England, encircled by trees and birdsong. It is 100 yards long and 33 yards wide and contains one million gallons of water. Swimmers swim outdoors all year round and encourage people to share in these pleasures.
On the Day
This year was the first time that I had attended this event, which was back for the first time since 2019 due to closures for lockdown and then renovation. Spectators were welcomed – £5 on the gate.
I was super excited to be entering with lots of Bluetits friends. Myself and seven other Bluetits from Suffolk went to the event together and we had a truly wonderful day. The water was 5 degrees on the day and thankfully, after Storm Eowyn, where the rain was coming down hard in the morning and had ensured lots of train cancellations from the north over the last few days, the sun shone brightly all day.
Registration opened at 7.30am, which is when we arrived. We received a fab goodie bag with a free swim hat, certificate with our names on and race pack. There was an Opening Ceremony and icy dip for Crisis to start off. For anyone for whom all that racing sounded a bit too competitive they could take part in the ice breaker challenge instead. Splash in, jump out and take the icy plunge to raise money for Crisis, the charity to end homelessness.
After that were the swim races and award ceremony for 90m freestyle and ice fly races. It was lovely to see excited faces, see the bunting and flag waving, and hear all the cheering and applause!
This was followed by the Almost Synchro Guinness record attempt, which featured an amazing routine in the water. Afterwards were team relays and Best Hat Parade. Followed by awards ceremony for 30m races, relays and best hat. There was also a grand raffle with prizes from swimming adventure holidays to wild swim wear and
more, donated by wonderful sponsors.
There was a lot going on during the day too. There were stalls full of lovely swimmy goodies, bespoke beers and tasty hot food trucks. My friends bought hoodies, badges, hot chocolates and bobble hats. I limited myself to just a hog roast roll for lunch!
The Races
The events of the day were individual races; head-up breaststroke, ice fly (butterfly) and freestyle. Most races were 30m (one width of the Lido) but there was also a 90m freestyle race (three widths). Then there were relay races. Teams in the 4x30m freestyle relays consisted of four competitors who would each swim 30m (one width of the Lido).
I took part in the 30m breaststroke race. On entry into the pool it was cold enough to take my breath away but not so chilly I couldn’t move. I have swum in lower temps than 5 degrees but the nerves were probably playing a factor and my hat was weighing me down a bit! I don’t know yet my times or ranking - I certainly didn’t win a medal but I enjoyed it 100% and I had loud cheers for me from my friends.
Afterwards I stopped to take some photos of Claire and Jo who were in the race after me, and then we went to the hot tub together, enjoying a nice warm soak and a cup of free hot ribena. The sauna afterwards really helped too!
One of my group and Admin for Deben Bluetits, Jo Wignall, won the gold medal for women’s 30m heads up breaststroke and bronze for 30m women’s freestyle. Jo said, “I felt very emotional! I loved watching all my friends out there. We did it!”
The Bluetits
The Bluetits Chill Swimmers has been the reason I love wild swimming and am part of an amazing community of likeminded people. The Tits were out in force at the event! It was great to meet up with so many of them from different locations. We laughed so much during the day, the community spirit was amazing.
Zoe Podmore, Admin for Tooting Tits was a volunteer at the event who was on Meet & Greet with fellow SLSC members. Zoe says, “It was great to catch up with so many flocks as they came through the gates. The weather was amazing as we enjoyed the races, hot tubs and marvelled at all the most fabulous hats!”
Sarah Ellen Cleal, Admin of Poole and Bournemouth Tits, said of the day, “Such a great day and really great to see so many familiar Tits… loved every minute… we will be back with more group in tow!”
There was also several of the Global Bluetit Swim Team who competed in the World Winter Swimming Championships in Tallinn, Estonia, last year. Fran Lincoln Mills, Admin of Boston Bluetits, was one of them. Fran said, “Wonderful to catch up with so many Tallinn Tits and other Bluetits yesterday. The sun shone and hot tubs and sauna soon warmed up cold swimmers. Great day.”
The Bluetits Chill Swimmers HQ had also done some filming with Fiona and Ross for BBC Breakfast, which aired on the Saturday before going live at the with International Winter Swimming Association.
Best Hat Competition
For the head-up breaststroke races swimmers were encouraged to wear a warm hat for this race, or get crafty and create your own headwear – the more outlandish the better!
All you had to do was create a new hat and wear it while swimming a width of the Lido in the head up breaststroke race at the Championships. There was a prize for the best overall hat, plus prizes for the specialist categories.
The hat creativity was great! There were Loch Ness Monster hats, crocheted creations, papier mache teacups and Alice in Wonderland-inspired ones. I saw a Bluetit themed hat, chickens, lobsters, wedding cake, Barbie in a wheelchair, roses and even a Lido model replica.
My hat was created with palm leaves, butterflies, colourful flowers and a large Bluetit perched on top! Although I didn’t win a prize I got lots of compliments on my hat during the day and was asked to be on BBC Breakfast during the event to show off the hat!
It was a real surprise to be picked out of the crowd and asked to speak to BBC Breakfast, who were there to spread the word about the event. They met with the dedicated volunteers and interviewed event organiser Margy to hear the history of
this fantastic event. Matt, their brave reporter even did an interview with SLSC club president Brian and SLSC swimmers in the pool, live to studio! I gave a couple of soundbytes – one live and one to be played later in the day. How exciting.
All in all it was a truly epic day taking part in the UK Cold Water Swimming Championships at Tooting Bec Lido in London. It was a really well-organised event from South London Swimming Club and lifeguards and volunteers, plus a fab day filled with laughs and great company. Looking forward to next year already!
By Natasha Sones, Admin of Shingle Street Bluetits
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