Publish date: 10 January 2023
Meet Carol Carter, Executive Assistant to Chief Executive Carolyn Regan. Carol is the trust’s very own dedicated open water swimmer and has committed to staying active as part of the West London Get Fit campaign. In her own words here is Carol’s unique experience of what swimming means to her.
What is open water swimming?
Open water swimming, sometimes referred to as wild swimming or outdoor swimming, is the sport or recreational activity of swimming in any body of open water e.g. river, lake, sea, reservoir, dock etc. Some venues for open water swimming are supervised with lifeguards and a safety team in kayaks or paddleboards on the water; these are usually lakes, reservoirs and docks. These venues tend to be flatter, calmer and enclosed with easy access/exit with sloping edges or steps/ladders. The sea and rivers are generally more ‘wild’ as they are not supervised and the conditions tend to vary from the tides, flow and weather conditions. Cold water swimming is carrying on this activity throughout the winter and can also include unheated pools and lidos. It is considered ice swimming when the water temperature is below 5C degrees.
What made you take up open water swimming and how long have you been taking part?
As a child I always swam, both in the pool competitively and on holiday with my family in the sea or in the River Thames at Runnymede on day trips. When I got a bit older I stopped swimming altogether, other than taking the children to the local pool.
In early 2014 I joined a gym and started swimming in the outdoor pool after my gym session, I remembered how much I loved it. Swimming soon took over my gym sessions and I began to look for a challenge, I found ‘The Aspire Channel’ challenge, not to actually swim the English Channel but to swim the equivalent length of it in the pool over 12 weeks between September and December 2014. I completed the 22 miles in about 4 weeks and started looking for another challenge.
My next challenge was called the Henley Mile; a one-mile swim in the river Thames in the Summer of 2015. Once I signed up, I realised I would need to get some training in and found a club called Henley Open Water Swimming Club (HOWSC), who swim in the River Thames around Henley every week (I still swim with the club every week). I joined the group for my first swim on 23rd May 2015 and turned up to the car park.
As soon as I got out of the car, someone came up to me and told me that one of the members was getting married later that day and asked me to sign her wedding card (bearing in mind I’d never met any of them before), and sure enough there she was in a swimming costume and veil!
That first swim was a bit of a shock, the water felt cold and I struggled to get my breathing under control. I didn’t stay in the water for very long, one of the group members stayed with me, someone who is now a good friend. But I went back the following week, and the next and so on. I swam the Henley Mile in the Summer of 2015 and was hooked. Since then I have regularly been open/wild/outdoor/cold/ice swimming for nearly 8 years now, at least twice a week, all year round.
What are the mental and physical benefits of open water swimming?
The benefits of this type of swimming are largely anecdotal. It’s exercise, well in the summer at least, when we can swim for a couple of hours as the water temperature is at its warmest. In winter not so much; I can drive 30 minutes for a 5-minute dip in a freezing river or lake where the water temperature has recently been below 2C degrees.
At the coldest weekend just gone 10-11 December 2022, a channel had to be broken through the ice so that we could get in – for a very short 3-minute dip.
I love being in the water whatever the weather or water temperature. Sometimes we do a ‘proper’ swim, sometimes a head up, chatty swoosh along with the flow and a big part of it for me is the camaraderie and social aspect. I have made so many new friends and there are wild swim groups all around the country so you can always find someone to swim with when away from home.
Tell us about one of your most memorable swims and why was it special?
I have had so many adventures since joining HOWSC, doing things I never even dreamed of. Since my first event - the Henley Mile, I have entered many more official events including the Henley Classic which is a 2.1km swim upstream in the River Thames, following the route of the Henley Royal Regatta. It can be a brutal swim, depending on how fast the river is flowing and I have completed it 5 times. So been there, done that and literally got the t-shirt and have now retired from that particular swim.
Swimming across the Arctic circle back in time
I have completed a half marathon swim, 5.5.km luckily downstream in the Thames and in 2023 I plan to do the full marathon which is 13km. There have also been so, so many glorious trips away to the Lake District, Snowdonia and Devon but there are two trips that deserve a special mention.
The first trip was in July 2018, when I swam across the arctic circle, we did 2 swims along a river, between Finland and Sweden. The first was a 2km swim downriver during the afternoon but the second was the most special swim I think I’ve ever done. Starting just after midnight on Sunday in the land of the midnight sun, we swam 3km down the river from Finland to Sweden, swimming across the arctic circle and also turning back in time by arriving in Sweden before midnight on Saturday. The whole trip away was just phenomenal with the best bunch of people.
The second most memorable trip was to the International Winter Swimming Championships in Lake Bled, Slovenia, which took place in early February 2020, we swam for Great Britain and I swam the 25m ice fly and 50m breaststroke in water of around 5 degrees C. I did the 25m butterfly in just under 29 seconds, which ranked me 5th out of 9 GB swimmers. It was so good, I am going back again in January 2023 and I’m hoping to improve my time and my ranking.
Getty Images
A few of us did a photoshoot for Getty images, and one of the photos in particular has been used multiple times. The first time was during the half-time adverts of a game in the 2018 world cup. It was an ad for Facebook and our photo was used as part of the ad, I nearly fell off my chair when I saw it!
The photo has since been used to advertise Premier Inn; health features in The Guardian (a couple of times at least); private health company Benenden Health; on the BBC news app; on a website advising on how to keep on top of cholesterol and, most recently in December 2022, it was spotted being used to advertise HSBC at Heathrow Airport!