Open water swimming is more popular than ever. The physical and health benefits of swimming in the wild, whether that is in the sea, lakes or rivers, have encouraged more and more people to take the plunge and try out events, including Swim Serpentine where the two-mile distance for the 2024 event sold out in less than 24 hours.
More than 6,000 people are making their final preparations for the 2024 Swim Serpentine this Saturday (14 September). Taking to the waters of the Serpentine Lake in Hyde Park, London, swimmers will complete distances ranging from half a mile to six miles. Of those participants, more than 1,500 will be aiming to complete their London Classics (the endurance challenge which requires people to complete the London Marathon, RideLondon-Essex 100, and two-mile distance at Swim Serpentine).
Participants taking part this year range in age from a 10-year-old girl looking forward to swimming the half-mile distance, up to an 86-year-old woman who is completing the one-mile distance, which is one lap of the Serpentine. Most swimmers taking part will be tackling the two-mile distance, while more than 100 people are completing the Super Six – a six-mile, six-loop challenge.
However, while the surge in interest in Swim Serpentine is proof that outdoor swimming is a growing interest for many people, the sport is not deemed popular by all. An alarming report by the Black Swimming Association shows that 84% of Black and Asian people surveyed felt that swimming was uncommon in their communities.
In response to this London Marathon Events, which organises Swim Serpentine, worked with swim groups from Black and Asian communities for the first time to offer taster sessions in the Serpentine Lido to help their swimmers feel more confident and prepared before taking part in this year’s event. For more on the work Swim Serpentine is doing to increase diversity in swimming, read here.
Alongside community swimmers at the 2024 Swim Serpentine will be some famous faces, including star of stage and screen Juliet Stevenson, who is swimming the half-mile distance for West London Welcome, a refugee and migrant community centre in west London.
Stevenson has appeared in films such as Bend It Like Beckham, Emma, and Truly, Madly, Deeply. The actor, 67, has also enjoyed a celebrated stage career and won the 1992 Olivier Award for Best Actress for her role as Paulina in Death and the Maiden. Stevenson’s latest film, Reawakening, is released in cinemas on Friday (13 September), the day before her fundraising swim for West London Welcome.
Stevenson said: “Every time I visit West London Welcome, I am blown away by the spirit of the place, the warmth of its community and the joy that is palpable. For members arriving new in the UK, having survived the most harrowing of traumas, this is a wonderful, practical and friendly place to land.”