Why Is Outdoor Swimming So Popular?

Outdoor swimming participation has skyrocketed over the last few years, so I decided to try and find out why the sport had become so popular and why participants are so passionate about it.

Throughout my research and interviews with veteran outdoor swimmers, the one thing I keep hearing about is the strong sense of community that is created.

During COVID-19, connection between people was lost as we were locked away in our homes. Gyms and swimming pools were closed, restrictions were put in place and with nowhere else to go, people turned to outdoor swimming.

I have spoken to two people who are passionate about outdoor swimming, although, you would struggle to find an outdoor swimmer who is not completely enamoured with their sport. Julia McGowan swims in Higham Lake every week with GB ice swimmer Fenwick Ridley. For Julia, her most memorable swim was when Fenwick had to hack away at the ice on a frozen-over lake to allow the group to complete their weekly swim surrounded by ice. I then spoke to Bailey McBride who created Newcastle University’s cold water swimming society in 2023, after she tried outdoor swimming and realised how good she felt after: “it’s such an indescribable feeling…you really can’t knock it till you try it…and then you do it and you’re like, why am I so happy?”.

Julia McGowan enjoying outdoor swimming surrounded by ice.

Julia McGowan’s chosen form of exercise has always been swimming in an indoor pool. As a self-proclaimed non-risk-taker, she had never dared to try swimming in open water. That was until, 2017, when her friends started suggesting different competitions they could do, so Julia decided to embark on an outdoor swimming challenge. Between 2017 and 2019, she took on three challenges at Loch Lomond and Lake Windermere. At first, she would only do a mile at a time, with a wetsuit and train at Derwent Reservoir, because swimming outside was a new thing for her. Then, COVID-19 hit, and Derwent Reservoir stopped allowing swimmers there. Eventually, she was told about Sweethope Lough/Higham Lake, where she met Fenwick Ridley.

Fenwick Ridley is a well-known Team GB ice swimmer and captain which has earned him the nickname, ‘Ice Viking’. He owns a business called H20 Trails where, for over a decade, he has helped people take the plunge into outdoor swimming and educated them on the correct techniques and safety tips at Higham Lake. This is where Julia has been swimming since 2021 and she has created strong connections within the sport: “now I’ve got this whole community of friends that just encourage you”.

Julia also credits outdoor swimming for getting her through difficult times in her life. When I spoke to her, her personal life sounded stressful with two of her family members both facing health issues. However, she says she tries to keep her Tuesday morning slot every week because it helps boost her mood: “I’m so excited about going tomorrow…you know all that’s going on in your life, I try the one thing I try and keep is my swimming. And we just laugh about it.”

Julia is where she is now in her outdoor swimming journey because of the community she has created, she has gone from swimming in a wetsuit, gloves, and boots for a mile, to achieving two miles in only a swimming costume and a woolly hat. Fenwick was the person who suggested trying without the wetsuit: “I thought, well, I’ll just see how cold I can go…and I went through the whole winter without the wetsuit”. Then she met a lady from the Netherlands who was researching the science behind open water swimming. Julia said the lady gave her various challenges: “why don’t you try one glove on, one glove off, and see what the difference is? And although your hand got colder straight away, when you got out, your hand warmed up quicker.” So, she ditched the gloves and boots and has signed herself up to swim two miles again this year and is taking part in the Polar Bear Challenges which tests you to complete a set number of outdoor swims.

Bailey McBride, another avid outdoor swimmer, who created the Newcastle University outdoor swimming society has also built up a tolerance to the cold and only goes in with a swimming costume on. Bailey has also managed to create a huge community of people who share the same passion for outdoor swimming and her society now has over seven-hundred members. She says her physical health has improved in terms of recovery and she “always feels good”, however, the mental benefits massively outweigh the physical: “doing it with people, being out in nature…it feels amazing, also like the community part of like, we’re all doing something silly and seems hard, but we’re doing it together.”

Julia McGowan enjoying an outdoor swim.

During the conversations with the women, they both emphasised the feeling after the swim as the reason they keep going back to the water. Julia described it as a ‘buzz’: “it’s really inexplicable, I think. We joke about it being like crack cocaine, but none of us have ever taken cocaine!”. “But you just get there and you’re really apprehensive and you think, I can’t go in today. And you come out and you’re shivering, you’ve got the shakes, you just think, I’m so glad I did that.”

You would not think that plunging yourself in cold water in the UK would bring people so much joy and mental clarity, but it does. Overall, the feeling people get after they swim is the reason the sport is so popular and why people keep going back. Everyone I have spoke to about outdoor swimming has been so passionate about what they do, and it is such a positive space.

After so many glowing reviews, I decided I had to try outdoor swimming for myself (unfortunately I couldn’t do it without the wetsuit!) check out the video below!

Tips for Beginners:

An infographic of tips for beginner outdoor swimmers.