Wild Swimmers of the Year, 2021
It’s that time of year again, very happy to announce the shortlist for The Wild Swimming Brothers’ 'Wild Swimmer of the Year, 2021’. After another “unprecedented” year, we've relied on the joys of swimming outdoors, felt the spread of blue health and followed some incredible journeys. So we wanted to compile our shortlist of our favourite swimmers of 2021…
We like to class a wild swim as a swim outdoors in nature, so no outdoor pools or lidos - we'll put that into the subcategory of 'outdoor swimming' (don't you love all the narcissism of small differences). We're also leaving out the big channel, marathon, and open water swimmers as many of them are very well represented by WOWSA. Just check out the year Chloe McCardel had for evidence of the insane lengths marathon swimmers can go to. We also wanted to bring to you a fresh list of wild swimmers and as such will not be featuring any of our amazing swimmers nominated in the 2017, 2018, 2019 or 2020 list which you can see here. Every single swimmer from past lists has been blazing a watery trail all year and we continue to follow their journeys, as should you.
Anyway, without further ado, here's our shortlist for the Wild Swimmers of 2021….
Seren Jones
Seren Jones, 27, is a bilingual Welsh, Zimbabwean ex-BBC broadcast journalist. Outside of swimming she specialises in podcast production and documentary-making and is now an senior audio producer at Blanchard House. Beyond her journalism, Seren is also one of the co-founders of the Black Swimming Association (the BSA). This charity was set up to encourage more people in African, Caribbean and Asian communities to learn how to swim as an essential life-saving skill. Seren is an important voice of community, diversity and passion in the swimming world and we have loved following her journey.
“Most of you know I was a swimmer in my past life and I’ve always been so grateful for the experience. Swimming allowed me to travel the world, live abroad, it paid for my university degree, and it’s the reason why I’ve met some of my best friends. It’s also the reason why I’ve decided to give back to the sport that gave me so much. •
I’m so excited to introduce the @blackswimmingassociation a non-profit co-founded by myself and my amazing team with an aim to promote the welfare and inclusion of ethnic minorities and those from lower socio-economic backgrounds into the sport, with a focus on drowning prevention. It’s high time swimming became more accessible to everyone.”
Colin Hill
Colin Hill is like the Yoda of the wild/outdoor swimming world. He’s been there and done it all, channel swims, ice miles and more. He’s built businesses like Chill Swim and is an open water swim event director, promoter, coach & guide. On top of that, he is an International Marathon Swim Hall of Fame Inductee. He’s spent a lifetime immersed in the swimming world but what’s most inspiring is that he has never lost the joy of just simply swimming outside and sharing it with others. He recently set up Ullswater Swim Place on the shores of Lake Ullswater in Cumbria, after a swim across the lake as his commute he now takes people on guided wild swimming trips and coaches in his endless pool.
We were lucky enough to finally meet him in November and he took us on a 30 min wetsuited swim. There was a couple with us who had never done it before and thanks to Colin they had an unforgettable experience. Colin was so passionate and enthused by the fact that these two beginners had enjoyed the swim and it’s clear that he sees passing on his passion for swimming as the most important thing. Great work Colin and we salute that approach!
Kathleen Wotton
2020 was pretty bleak for Kathleen Wooton as at the start of lockdown she was rendered practically immobile. But then in July, she discovered the joys of sea swimming. Fast forward to 2021 and she continued to swim in the sea regularly and saw huge improvements to her physical and mental health. She shares her journey with unflinching honesty and positivity and we know she has been a voice of encouragement to others seeking respite from the pain and confusion of the last 2 years.
“I will not pretend I am not in pain but in the water I am free and my body moves freely. I’d not be here to write this if not for the sea.”
Omie Dale
Omie Dale works in community engagement and communication, but she’s also a keen swim teacher, having worked in the leisure industry since 2013. In her teaching role, she works for a variety of ages and abilities both in the UK and abroad. She volunteers for the Black Swimming Association and Pride in Water, and has joined Mental Health Swims as a swim host for the London region. She is a refreshing, honest and authentic voice in the swimming world and we urge you to follow her journey of exploration as she seeks to uncover the issue of diversity in the swimming community.
”I have been exploring the issue of diversity in aquatics and the leisure industry with my own project titled, ‘If 71% of the world is water, how can we feel at home if we don't know how to swim?’.
Jo Whiley
2021 was the year that we saw celebrities getting involved in the wild swimming mania. From Simon Reeves in his three part series in the Lake District to Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstal. Even Netflix got in on the action with Jack Whitehall and his Dad. But it was another celebrity who stole the wild swimming limelight, Jo Whiley.
Joanne Whiley-Morton, better known by her professional name Jo Whiley, is an English radio DJ and television presenter. She was the host of the long-running weekday later weekend Jo Whiley Show on BBC Radio 1. She now currently presents her weekday evening Radio 2 show. But most importantly, she has also got the watery bug and regularly shares her love of swimming outdoors. Thank you for sharing your new found passion with a wider audience and spreading the words of blue health!
“We swam, we leapt, we swam, we paddled, we plunged, we swam, we dived, we laughed and laughed. We are EXHAUSTED but supremely happy. We needed this🙏💙Weekend of dreams for me and my Water Babies 💦👶🏻”
Ger Kennedy
Ger Kennedy, born 15 November 1969, is a 51-year-old Irish open water swimmer from Wicklow whose nickname is Dr Ice. With a nickname like that you’re expecting some impressive swimming credentials and you wouldn’t be wrong. He swam a Zero Ice Mile in Paradise Bay, Antarctica in 0.53°C water and -1.10°C air in 34 minutes 2 seconds. He also achieved the Ice Sevens Challenge by completing 7 different Ice Miles in Ireland, Norway, Siberia, Morocco, USA, and Australia that culminated in a 2,800-meter high altitude lake in Chile.
In 2021 he didn’t lose any steam and completed the Red Rock Martello Tower to Sandycove Martello tower swim across Dublin bay. He then followed that up with the Sandycove harbour to bray harbour 10km marathon swim. The mission of this swim was to complete a marathon swim in sub 10c water temperature under Irish Long Distance Swimming Association rules togs, cap, goggles only. 10km at sub 10 is bonkers!
'“A weather window & good tide opportunity arose, plus due to damaged finger operation looming I had to go for it!
Water temperature average 8.7c over course ☠️☠️
Air temp was 9c-11c with some wind chill
Sea state was calm-ish
Northeast winds 2-4 Bft
Feed just hot soup”
But it’s not for his personal swims that Ger makes the list it is because of his sheer joy of encouraging others into the Ice. He is all too happy to inspire and coach from the sidelines and many swimmers have accomplished feats in the Ice that they could never have dreamed of without his encouragement.
Freya Bromley
Freya is a writer, reader, swimmer and works at the mighty Apple. She also set herself the quest of swimming every tidal pool in Britain. As if that wasn’t enough she launched the fantastic The Tidal Year podcast. The Tidal Year is a podcast about the joy of swimming. In it, she discovers the human stories behind why we swim. Every week, she’s joined by a new guest who shares what water means to them. We were lucky to be her first guests and we applaud her for bringing a touch of class to the wild swimming world as well as its first truly top drawer podcast.
Eden - The Transgender Swimmer
Eden is a transgender swimmer from Reading, England. She is a regular at the Thames Lido and also swims with the West Berkshire Open Water Swimmers, plunging into the Thames around Streatley and Basildon. In addition, she is an ambassador to Swim England and LGBTQIA Rights and Visibility advocate. She learnt to swim from a young age, having lessons at a local pool with her Grandfather and quickly found confidence in and around the water.
Her journey began in 2017 when she started swimming for recreation and fitness in a heated lido before trading it for a local river. This journey culminated in a brilliant documentary and we urge you to follow her journey and hear her voice.
“Eden is a Poetic Style Short Documentary Exploring the life of a Transgender Wild-Water Swimmer and Mental Health Advocate”
Cath Pendleton
Cath Pendleton was the inspirational star behind the brilliant BBC documentary “The Merthyr Mermaid.” The doc follows Cath and her dream to swim a mile in the coldest continent on the planet: Antarctica. Cath is a truly inspiring single mum who discovered ice swimming at a particularly low point in her life. Not only did it help her overcome the challenges she faced, it gave her the drive to make, and meet, goal after goal until she achieved something no one else in the world had ever done.
“It has been tough over the years being a single mum and trying to make ends meet,” says the record-breaker. Sometimes I wish it could have been easier but what’s the saying ‘what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger’ My life is crazy but I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
We urge you to stop what you are doing and watch it now. The moment where they have to postpone the swim and move to a separate location because there are two Leopard Seals feasting on a penguin is spine-tingling!
The Wild Swimming Aunties
You can’t put your own family on a list! That’s sacrilege they said! Favouritism! Nepotism! Well again it’s our list and last year we had our mum on so this year we thought it only fair to include some more of the swimming family! Our Aunty Fiona has got the wild swimming bug since 2016. In 2016 she joined Calum and the Wild Swimming Mother on the River Spey 10k swim and in 2017 joined us for our Wild Lady of Lochbroom expedition in Scotland. Since then she has become a real regular and is dipping in Lochs all over Scotland. As if that wasn’t enough of a family affair earlier this year our Aunty Helen decided to start cold water dipping and is currently diving headfirst into her first season of cold water swimming. We love sharing the wild swimming love and we really love seeing our family getting involved :)
All of You!
Again, we thought this one might be seen as a bit of a cute/cop-out way to finish the list, but it really is true... Every single one of you who took to the cold waters of the world as an escape from the Groundhog Day we find ourselves all in. We were also really inspired and humbled by. theresponse to river pollution earlier this year. This was a great example of grassroots activism and the power of community and we applaud everyone who was involved We absolutely love wild swimming and it's been inspiring and humbling to share the waterways with all of our aquatic family for another year.
Here's to plenty more wild swims to come as we dive on into 2022…