Swimmingpod

Laura Reineke is triple crown swimmer from Henley, UK, completing the Santa Catalina channel swim, the English Channel and the 20 Bridges swim of Manhattan Island. Locally, she is a Henley Mermaid, a group that swims for socialjustice, and founder of Friends of the Thames. She is Sue Ryder Woman of Achievement 2016. In this podcast I am with her in Henley, Oxfordshire, to discuss her swimming achievements, Henley Mermaids and her campaigning work for a clean River Thames.

Simon Griffiths is the author of Swim Wild and Free: A PracticalGuide to Swimming Outdoors 365 Days a Year, and founder of Outdoor Swimmer magazine. He is a life-long swimmer, swims year-round in the Thames and regularly takes part in open water and pool races. His swimming adventures havetaken him around the world. He was part of the team that created the STA Open Water Swimming Coaching qualification. In this podcast we discuss his latestbook, as well as his magazine, how to become a better all-round swimmer, and swimming at Teddington, London.

Toby Robinson is an international swimmer, representing England at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, and Great Britain at the Paris Olympic Games 2024. He is passionate about swimming, especially in open water. He is a staunch advocate and campaigner for clean open water in the UK, especially the River Thames in London. In September 2025, he was a key participant in a Thames relay swim from the source to London, highlighting sewage pollution in UK waterways. He is an ambassador for "Friends of the Thames", which promotes the restoration and protection of the river. In late 2025 he swam in the revived historic Lords...

Swimmingpod celebrates its 5th birthday, with guests Helen Edwards, Tom Kearney, Anette Frisch, Charlotte Sawyer, Tess Bird, Vera Prokopieva, and Carl Tysom. 65 episodes, covering styles and cultures of swimming in the outdoors and open water. Swimming heroes and everyday swimmers, politics and ecology of open watee. Swimming in health, disease and disability. Water and poetry, prose, music, visual arts and film. Swimming events, challenges, clubs, and groups. A lot of water has flowed under the bridge since the first episode in 2020.

Sian Richardson is founder of the Bluetits Chill Swimmers, a social enterprise that has gone global. In this episode of Swimmingpod, Sian talks about how she got into winter swimming events and about Bluetits in Tallinn and at Lake Bled.

James Bethell is a Lord of the British realm. A former Health Minister and member of the House of Lords. He is a passionate open water swimmer, whose passion has extended to bring open water swimming back to the River Thames in London. In this episode of Swimmingpod, Lord Bethell, James Bethell, talks about his open water passion, and a vision for a swimmable River Thames.

A warm June, 2025; a similarly warm June 2020, but in very different circumstances, both times greeting the solstice sun with a swim. Five years since the pandemic, Stanley Ulijaszekreflects in this podcast on summer solstice swimming and other rituals attached to this time of year at Oxford, both then, and now.

Daniel Allen-Hörnfeldt and Elvira Lundgren swim in Umea, Sweden. A place known for its magnificent wilderness, green and blue spaces, and swimming and winter swimmingscene. They run a very successful local winter bathing place called Umeakallbad. This is their story.

In this episode of Swimmingpod, Stanley Ulijaszek is with cake and pastry specialist Susanna Bowers, swimming at the London Fields and Brockwell Lidos , and eating cake and pastries at Pophams Bakery, Maya’s Bakehouse, and the lido cafe at Brockwell. In doing so, they explore the intimate connection between swimming and cake in London, a city of lidos and bakeries. They read from the Lido Guide, by Janet Wilkinson and Emma Pusill, and from Libby Page's novel The Lido, set in Brixton and Brockwell Lido.

 There is a literarytheme too – with Tolkein and Lord of the Rings, and L...

Swimming and cake is a natural combination for many outdoor swimmers. In this episode of Swimmingpod, food expert Susanna Bowers joins Stanley Ulijaszek in Oxford to explore both. They swim at Port Meadow from the Dodo Tree; and later from the Tolkien Bench in the University Park, close by Parsons Pleasure and what was once Dames Delight. Cake is eaten before swimming, then at St Cross College after the first swim, and at the Randolph Hotel after the second swim. Water and food in the fiction works of University of Oxford Professors Charles Dodgson (better known as Lewis Carroll...

I never expected to suffer from leptospirosis, although I know that it is a risk. A comment I sometimes hear from passers-by while swimming in the river is “you know you can get Weil’s Disease, don’t you?” My internal response, never spoken, is “Yes, but…” it is so rare that it is hardly on my swimmer’s radar. In retrospect I am surprised by how it took me by surprise when I got it, even though I thought I knew what it looks like. The lived experience of a disease is always very different to what it says in the text...

Amelie Schlemmer swims in Vienna. She is co-founder of SVDK – Swimmverein Donaukanal – the Donaukanal (Danube Canal) Swimming Club. This was founded in 2020 by four students of the Social Design program at the University of Applied Arts, Vienna, as an artistic practice. It soon turned into an open, non-profit cultural association with the ambition of revitalizing urban swimming culture along the Danube Canal. With over 300 members, the association is active along the Danube Canal as it passes through Vienna, and collaborates with various initiatives and institutions within Vienna and internationally. In this podcast we discuss the resurgence of swimming in the D...

The volcanic Lake Bullen Merri is in Victoria, Australia, cloverleafed in shape. A little over two and a half kilometers across. Swimming here, Stanley Ulijaszek was struck by its deep history, and the history of the aboriginal Djargurd Wurrung peoples here, who were resettled in the late nineteenth century. There is a distressing swimming story here, involving the female leader of these people, Queen Fanny, the name given to her by the Europeans; real name Bareetch Chuurneen. There was a massacre at Lake Bullen Merri in 1839, and Bareetch Chuurneen got away, swimmingacross Lake Bullen Merri with the young child...

Mike Lapworth was the inspiration for my 65 swims at the age of 65 years. He had swum 50 swims at the age of 50 years. Hywel Davies I have swum with across the years, having met while swimming the length of the non-tidal River Thames (in stretches, not all in one go). We original met, Mikeand I, at the Thames at Port Meadow, Oxford, at a pre-pandemic Dodo (pre-Christmas) swim, where Hywel also swam. Mike told me of his 50 at 50, and Hywel persuaded me that 65 swims at 65 was a good idea. Mike has continued his swims, exploring new places, and we recorded...

Kara Mayer’s mission is to make river swimming around NewYork City safe and free. With her development of + POOL, a water-filtering floating pool for safe recreation in urban waters, she has ignited a series of policy changes that will open up access to the rivers for all New Yorkers. Thisis being trialled in the Summer of 2025, and the implications of her work for outdoor urban bathing are huge, in terms of policy, technology and knowhow. Her moto – perseverance– is one for all water quality advocates. In this podcast we discuss how the idea of the world’s first  floating...

Why we swim can often be political, and swimmer Grace Wright-Arora has completed research on pollution, activism and alternative water knowledges among users of the River Avon, near Bristol. Central to this work is understanding why people swim in the Avon, despite knowing of the often high risks of exposure to pollution and even infection there. This podcast is about her swimming experiences, how Conham river bathers navigate uncertainty and risk of exposure, and the politics of Avon River management.

Hot town, summer in the city, and a meeting like no other. For an urban swimmer, to have a bathing platform outside the conference venue, starting on Day 1, World Bathing Day, 22nd June, with a jump into the very clean waters of the Rijnhaven, Rotterdam, is a perfect start to two days of deliberation and information sharing. Around 200 people representing organisations from around the world assembled with the aim of promoting urban swimming, and through this, raising awareness about the potential for urban swimming to regenerate waterways, improve liveability and grow climate resilience. This podcast captures some of the...

Luke Belfield is a force, undertaking feats of running and swimming which would tax any mortal. As someone who developed arthritis in childhood, with some remissionand then resumption in early adult life, he could have accepted the ruling of the ancient Greek three sisters of fate. But he didn’t. Very successfully, he has been weaving his own destiny with the thread that he has been given, by, in his own words, considering his body as an instrument and not an ornament. In this podcast, we talk about his athletic journey, from running the Athens marathon and ironman, to ma...

Tony Forbes and Col Ritchie are regulars at the annual Pierto Pub ocean swim in Lorne, Victoria. This can be a fierce race, when swimming can be a contact sport. Notwithstanding this, this fearsome duo amount nearly a century and a half of life experience between them, and swimming enough Pier toPubs leads to the honour of receiving a shark bait award, two or more if you live long enough and/or you don’t get taken by a shark. Tony and Col take it seriously enough to train regularly in their local pool. Which is where I jointhem, on...

Sarah Quinn taught me to say ‘You never regret a swim’ and Ihave been saying it now for decades. And I don’t and nor does she and nor does Amenah McDonald. Sarah and Amenah have a beautiful connection through the ocean atOcean Grove, Australia. Amenah plans her week around how the surf is going to be, while Sarah reads the water every morning on the way to dropping her kids off at school. Both live close to the ocean and are in every day if it letsthem – the water is their friend, but sometimes it can be treacherous. Amenah i...

Stanley Ulijaszek offers some reflections about swimming in Victoria in Australia on the coast at Queenscliffe. On a beautifulbeach, long and stretching towards a point to the left and another to theright, at Point Lonsdale. A swim with a Hopper-esque sailboat sailing in gentlebut business-like fashion, in front of the lighthouse that signals the pointwhere Australia lost a Prime Minister to the water and to the waves. RustCloud, Richard Serra, rusted iron slabs of sails sculpted by the wind. Strongerout there than here in gentle crawl parallel to the sandy shore. What three wordstell the world...

There is a lot of good swimming to be had in the Bristolregion, with several vibrant and active outdoor swimming scenes in the region - in the city itself, but also in the nearby River Avon, in the River Brue, in the Avon estuary, and in the sea at sand point. If you can go a mile or ten out of Bristol there is a lot of choice - at Weston Super Mare there are several lido beaches to choose. River swimming at Bradford upon Avon (the river Avon upstream) is a scenic delight. People really care about their...

Charlotte Sawyer is a documentary film maker and photographer who captures cinematic stories that cross cultures and boundaries. She has worked in conflict zones and places vulnerable to climate change, notably Iraq, Ethiopia and Nigeria. Aggie Nyagari is a Kenyan film and TV director, who brings the diversity of her life experiences into her work. Charlotte and Aggie both live, swim and work in Bristol. Together they have made a beautiful new film - Rave On for the Avon - capturing the Conham Bathing Group communities love for their river, and their fight for to gain Bathing Water Quality...

Tom Kearney is a Hampstead resident of over a quarter of a century and year-round swimmer at the nearby Ponds. He has a life well lived. In this podcast we talk about that life and the very special place that swimming in open water has in it. The late Al Alvarez, poet and author of the book ‘Pond Life’, Tom’s friend in Hampstead, brought him to swimming at The Ponds, something that he says has saved his life. On the eighteenth of December 2009, Tom was knocked over by a bus in London’s Oxford Street, and was in near-dea...

This podcast is about open water swimming in London – given how urban this global city is, it is not immediately obvious that this is a great place for open water swimming. Indeed, there is a thriving open water swimming scene. More accurately, there are several open water swimming scenes in London - in rivers (usually the River Thames), lakes, ponds, and outdoor pools. Here are four personal accounts of swimming in London in river, pond, lake and pool, respectively. These are: from Teddington to Richmond, in the Thames; in the Ponds at Hampstead Heath; at the Serpentine Swimming Club in...

Sarah Giles lives and swims in open water in Oxford. She is Programme Development Manager at SportExcel UK, a sports organisation working with people with learning disability across the UK in performance/elite sport. She is a passionate open water swimmer all days and all seasons, and a powerful advocate for equality and inclusion. In this podcast we talk about open water swimming in Oxford, and how revitalising Oxford's former river bathing places could help address inequalities in swimming in the city.

There is a strong tradition of outdoor swimming in Oxford. Writer Iris Murdoch said something like this “On hot days in the Oxford summer my husband and I manage to slip into the Thames, a mile or two above the city. The art is to draw no attention to oneself, but to cruise quietly by the reeds like a water rat". A recent exhibition in Oxford showed a map of bathing places in or close to the city centre, and there were many. There was Wolvercote, Black Jack’s Hole, Fiddler’s Island, Tumbling Bay, the Sheepwash, Boney’s Bridge...

Darrin Roles started the Lock to Lock a single swim event in the Thames in 2015, and it has grown into a series of events and distances. The first year the event was from Eynsham to King’s Lock (4 kilometers), and in subsequent years, swims from Farmoor to King’s Lock (6 kilometers) and from Farmoor to Godstow Lock (10 kilometers) were introduced. This Wild Swim series is known for being set in locations of natural beauty in West Oxfordshire. In the course of setting up and running these swims he set up two swim-runs, along the same stretch of the River Tham...

This podcast is about my practice of swimming to work, the last of which took place in 2022 when I retired. A swim to work for me was 8 kilometers, from Eynsham Lock to Port Meadow, Oxford. My final swim to work was on a Friday, when I had been accompanied by several friends, to make it a memorable one. While previous swims to work had started early in the so that I could get to work on time – my work place has a shower and I keep a change of clothes there – this one started at the civilised time of nine...

Jeremy Wellingham and Mike Harris are both open water swimmers, Jeremy in Oxfordshire, Mike in London. Both swim nationally and internationally too. Both write swim-inspired haiku. In this podcast they talk about their swimming experiences, and what it takes to write this Japanese short-form poetry. Water features widely, and thinking poetically shapes their awareness of the environment as they swim.

This podcast is about swims in The Shire - Tolkein’s Oxfordshire. I have no idea if Tolkien was a swimmer, but there is plenty of evidence to suggest that he liked water. In Lord of the Rings, The Elves have close affinity to water; while Ulmo is the Lord of Water. Ulmo is also the enemy of evil creatures, and therefore water is associated with moral force.  The Shire is a place where hobbits live, hobbits being easy-going, liking a quiet life, but who can also handle a big adventure. Most hobbits can’t swim, and most are afrai...

Emma Gibbard and Carl Tysom are both passionate about open water swimming, and both have been involved in overseeing swimming at the West Oxfordshire Sailing Club, where there is a lake with a one kilometer track, and dedicated members who swim on a regular basis, many of them through winter, alongside a thriving sailing community. I am also involved in overseeing swimming here. In this podcast we talk about swimming in West Oxfordshire, and about the issues associated with running open water swimming at a small club. Carl had already swum his distance when we found him recovering, in...

Five years ago, Stanley Ulijaszek undertook 65 swims in different places at the age of 65 years. The book 'Memories Like Water’ is a personal account of these swims. A lot of things happened in that year. Going to swim in places known, in places new. Lakes, rivers, oceans. Revisiting places and the memories that have gone with them, revisiting the memories of those places and reinventing them. In this podcast, Stanley Ulijaszek talks about this swimming journey, and describes the first of these 65 swims, which takes place at the West Oxfordshire Sailing Club swimming lake.

Helen Edwards is an ecological artist, dancer, and swimmer. I am with her at her solo exhibition at Oxford’s North Wall Arts Centre, entitled Breathing of Life.  She has danced and swum in natural landscapes all her life. Connecting body, breath and imagination, she makes aesthetic connections with environmental images – in paintings juxtaposed with underwater photography, and film. In her work she likes to bridge art and science, culture and community, all with a focus on water and ecology. She takes her approach to the pragmatics of nature restoration and to environmental projects.  In this podcast we talk about all...

Swimming outdoors every day, Stanley Ulijaszek celebrated his 70th birthday recently, obviously with a swim and a song, a picnic and cake. Will his guests still swim at 70? This what they said, in turn: Gemma Ferrier, Jeremy Wellingham, Lizanne Christopher, Blan Walker, Lisa Keeping, Jess Harrold, Steve Banner, Sarah Dilger, Alana Smith, Julie Macken, Kristie Waller, Louisa Maybury, Kath Fotheringham, Darrin Roles, and Alice O’Leary. The music is Noe Noe, and The Zeppelin, from Blue Dot Sessions.  

Sam Millward is a scuba and freediving instructor, fascinated by the mental, physical and experiential benefits that all forms of immersion can give. In this podcast he describes the different world that free diving is a gateway to. He also describes deep diving, with equipment, and the physiology that goes with it - what your body needs to be able to do. Breathing, breath holding and breath work are all hugely important in diving, whether it be free or deep, and Sam discusses the psycho-physiological states that being able to link mind and body in breathing and diving practices...

Level water means equal rights. In the case of Ian Thwaites and the charity Level Water, this is right to water, which swimming is a gateway to. He set up this charity with the mission of giving children with disabilities the opportunity to learn to swim, and by extension, empowers them to take part in a range of water-based activities that swimming opens the gate to. From physical development to social and emotional confidence, swimming is a vehicle to change the lives of children supported by Level Water for the better. Level Water has lots of events, which through...

Ramin Cyrus has swum a channel relay, the Thames Marathon at Henley and other big swims, all great achievements. Powerful achievements, given that he is visually impaired. While for most open water swimmers, sighting is a matter of looking up, to work out where they are and to set their course, Ramin Cyrus sights without sight, with the help of great friends in the water, Paul Daniels and Anthony Wood, he is having the swimming time of his life. In this podcast, recorded at the Lido café in London’s Hyde Park, we discuss his swimming achievements, and what it...

Vera Prokopieva and Annie Liddle were undergraduate students at the University of Oxford. They both took up wild swimming together while at Oxford. Annie grew up on a farm in Hampshire while Vera grew up in Bulgaria. Both had a love of swimming before coming to Oxford, and both have taken their love of swimming with them. In this podcast we discuss the value that open water and winter swimming bring to brain work and to everyday student life.  

Paul Atherton is a filmmaker and Londoner. He produced and directed The Ballet of Change, four short films that were projected onto London landmarks, most famously Piccadilly Circus in 2007. His video-diary Our London Lives is in the permanent collection of the Museum of London. He took up outdoor swimming at the Serpentine Swimming Club, London, in the Summer of 2023, barely being able to swim 50 meters. Just a couple of months later, he completed a mile and a meter in the race by that name, at that club. In this podcast, over breakfast at the Serpentine Lido Café, we discuss swimmi...