Another great weekend was had at the Dart10k, with a full house for swimmers and their family and friends joining us over the weekend. Conditions were kinder than the last few years, with warm 16°C water and a relatively benign amount of chop (although you may not agree if you were in there!).
Swimmers covered the full age range, from 16 to over 75 taking part this year. Their times were equally varied and ranged from a speedy 1hr 49min to the most leisurely at 4hrs 26min. The gold hat VIPS were also out in force, with over 200 of you returning for your third (or more) Dart10k! There were also 22 crazy people who decided to double dip (swimming Saturday and Sunday), who received a certificate for their dedication at OSS HQ after their Sunday swim, and 88 swimmers that braved the water in skins.
Dominick Tyler
Dominick Tyler
Dominick Tyler
Dominick Tyler
Dominick Tyler
Toms Majors
Toms Majors
Whilst the Dart10k is all about swimming with friends, family or other likeminded swimmers, The Outdoor Swimming Society still aim to make the swim personal to each and every swimmer. For one Saturday swimmer this was taken to the extreme – arriving late due to traffic, one swimmer was greeted with their very own registration, baggage transport, briefing and then escorted down the river by her very own personal paddleboarder, completing the swim like nothing had ever been amiss! Another swimmer, who thought wetsuits were provided found that they were in his case, and completed the swim in a borrowed wetsuit from one of the team.
A Sunday swimmer was provided with a personal google fixing service by the registration team. Their googles broke at the start line, but because the googles were by prescription our box of spares weren’t going to cut it. A cable tie and some calming words later and they joined the back of their wave and swam 10k wondering why googles weren’t designed with nose bridges made from cable ties!
Tim Bridges
As usual, the feeding station team, along with all our other voluntary team members, were highly praised by our swimmers: “Thanks to the seal feeders at the feed stations, the safety people – especially the young chaps who kept telling me – it’s just round the corner!” – Karen Smith; “Just wanted to send big love to the peeps on the feeding stations who were AWESOME as yellow, red, gold, blue and white caps hurled themselves upon them gasping for sustenance. You guys totally rocked – thank you!” – Barbara Jennings
Dominick Tyler
OSS HQ was crammed with VIPs at this year’s Dart10k, with golden ticket holders (swimming all three OSS events), golden hats (who have swum 3 Dart10ks, or more in a lot of cases) and double dippers (who swam on both Saturday and Sunday). Nathan Green, deserves a particular mention, who falls into all three of the VIP categories, and is doing the run-swim at the Hurly Burly on the 29th of September – definitely our swimmer of the year!
Toms Majors
Over 500 swimmers from our charity partner, Level Water, joined the Dart10k in 2018. Level Water provide one to one swimming lessons for children with disabilities, until they are able to join mainstream lessons (a journey that generally takes a year). “Swimmers in OSS events have raised £165,000 for the charity this year,’ says Level Water Director Ian Thwaites. ‘We see the Dart as the London Marathon of swimming, the flagship, and being the OSS’s charity partner has changed our lives and that of hundreds of children. Before the OSS we operated in 17 pools, with 40 teachers and 200 children per week. Now, we operate in 66 pools, with 120 teachers, and teach 500 children per week.’
We were honoured to have Dominick Tyler as our official photographer this year. Dom worked with our society founder, Kate Rew’s on the book Wild Swim; his images were pivotal in changing public perception of swimming outdoors in Britain. Huge thanks also to Toms Majors who came along out of enthusiasm and also shares his images. The full photo gallery can be found here. Please feel free to download and use photos but please credit the photographer (name in the photo file name) and the Outdoor Swimming Society.
Whilst all of us at The Outdoor Swimming Society had an amazing weekend, we do understand some people may have suggestions for future improvements to the event. If you do have any feedback (good or constructive) we would love to hear it: please email us at hello@outdoorswimmingsociety.com.
Dominick Tyler
Dominick Tyler
Dominick Tyler
Dominick Tyler
Dominick Tyler
Dominick Tyler
Tim Bridges
If you think something is not quite right with your result or you just can’t find yourself drop hello@outdoorswimmingsociety.com an email and we will sort it out. Our database is not watertight: if you have done the Dart three times but didn’t get a gold hat, or did the Double Dart but didn’t get a certifcate, please let us know – but if you can, wait till after the Hurly Burly for a response!
Saturday results can be found here.
Sunday results can be found here.
And now to 2019 – the 10th anniversary of the Dart10k! We can’t wait to celebrate it with you!
Iain Downie
A massive thank you goes to all those who made the 2018 Dart so brilliant: swimmers, volunteers, water safety team, charity partners and supporters. Special thanks to Alpkit, our long term supporter and event partner.
Thanks also to : Dryrobe; Clif Bar; Clipper Teas and visiting trade stands SwimQuest and Deakin & Blue.
The Dart10k is supported by Alpkit
Thanks to our friends at Dryrobe, anyone who ended up in the rewarming shelter, wasn’t cold for long.
Thanks to Clif Bar, swimmers were given a Clif bar along with a hot drink on the finish line.
All swimmers were given a cup of Clipper Hot Chocolate on the finish line.
The Dart10k was supported by Swimcap.com
A key beneficiary of the Dart 10k is the Outdoor Swimming Society, a not for profit which raises funds for itself via this and other events. We are proud to support our charity partner:
Level Water provide free one-to-one swimming lessons for children with disabilities. Please contact Colette at Level Water for more information.
Dart10k swimmers also swim for a large number of charities of their own choice. A special mention in 2018 goes to Devon Air Ambulance Trust, FRANK Water, a small Bristol based charity that funds safe water and sanitation projects in India working with some of the most marginalised and remote communities, and Barts Bash – the Andrew Simpson Sailing Foundation.
Special thanks go to Totnes and Dittisham Councils and communities for their support of this event, and to Dittisham Sailing Club and Totnes Rowing Club in particular for sharing the river Dart with us.
September 2018