Team up with friends, then head to the lake and take it in turns to swim for 24 hours, all while raising money to give disabled children a life-changing opportunity.
Most swim events are about getting from A to B. Then get out. Then go home. Level Water’s Wild Swim Relays are a little different …
Gather a team of swimmers – or swim solo, if you like – and head to one of five locations across England for a weekend of camping, community and clambering in and out of your swimsuit. Along with the other teams, you’ll each take it in turns to swim for an hour for 24 hours.
What makes this special? There are no rules about how far or fast you have to swim. New to open water? Join a team of six or eight and swim for a total of three or four hours. A confident swimmer who’s looking for a different kind of swim event? Join a team of three or four and swim for a total of six or eight hours. Training for a big swim? Enter as a solo or duo.
When you’re not in the water, you can enjoy all that happens in the event village, with music, firepits and festival vibes throughout the night, or sneak off to your tent for a well-deserved rest.
Interested? We spoke to four swimmers – Sophie, Helen, Robin and Leila – to show you just how flexible the Wild Swim Relays can be.
Adaptive athlete and Channel swimmer, Sophie Etheridge, is attempting to swim two Wild Swim Relays in a single weekend.
Sophie Etheridge is a well-known adaptive athlete who continues to achieve extraordinary things in the water to show what disabled people can do if they’re given the right support.
Following an accident in 2011, Sophie was diagnosed with Complex Regional Pain Syndrome, a chronic condition which made swimming extremely difficult. Despite setbacks, this hasn’t stopped her from completing multiple endurance swims, including the English Channel and a Windermere Two-way Solo (yes, there and back again!), while also creating a community for disabled swimmers (Adaptive & Disabled Open Water Swimmers – ADOWS).
In 2023, Level Water invited Sophie to join their new Event Accessibility Committee – a group of disabled swimmers set up to advise Level Water on the accessibility of their events. ‘There’s nothing else like this,’ Sophie explains. ‘Most events don’t even think about disabled swimmers. Events sell out, they don’t need disabled swimmers, and, therefore, they don’t feel the need to make these events accessible. The most difficult part of some events is actually getting to the water – swimming is often the easy part!’
But accessibility is particularly important to Level Water given their mission. ‘Because of the work they do with disabled children,’ Sophie explains, ‘they understand that we are just people. They don’t panic, they don’t make assumptions about what you can and can’t do, they just ask what help you need and do their best.’
In 2024, Sophie entered a team of six to swim the relay at Trifarm, Essex. ‘The organisers were fantastic,’ she says. ‘They let us set up our campsite in the event village, 20 metres from the lake; I didn’t have to use my wheelchair once. We also swam with different coloured tow floats, so that the water safety team knew who was in the water and what support we’d need.’
This year, Sophie hopes to swim in two teams. ‘No one’s done that before,’ she says, ‘but the guys at Level Water are willing to make it work.’
Helen swam the Wild Swim Relay solo to train for Loch Ness. ‘It’s the best event I’ve ever done,’ she says.
Helen Smith started outdoor swimming 10 years ago with her sister to help cope with the loss of their younger sister, Heather. They decided to raise money for the British Heart Foundation, starting with a one-mile swim in the Thames, but they soon became much more ambitious. ‘Over the years,’ Helen says, ‘we’ve increased the distances, ditched the wetsuits and learned to love the cold.’
In 2021, Helen decided to swim Loch Ness but got pulled out after four hours. ‘I had unfinished business,’ she says. ‘At the same time, I kept seeing these Level Water events popping up, so I contacted the team and asked if I could use the relay as a training event for Loch Ness. In other words, can I do it solo?’
‘It’s the best swim event I’ve ever done. I was swimming for the full 24 hours, and yet I didn’t feel as though I’d missed out. I got to chat with the other swimmers. The support kayakers kept coming over to check I was doing OK, and during each feed, the Level Water guys came down to the water to sing songs and tell me jokes.’
‘It was also perfect training for Loch Ness. The water was a little too warm at first, but the temperatures dropped overnight. I did have a mental blip at around 11pm, when I realised I wasn’t even halfway – “Oh my God,” I said to myself, “what are you doing?” – which is exactly what happens during a long-distance swim. But then I got to swim into the dawn, with the birds singing and the sun rising over the lake.’
In 2023, Helen completed her Loch Ness swim. She’s now hoping to complete the Scottish Triple Crown, with Loch Lomond later this year and Loch Awe to come. But she also has a new challenge in mind. ‘I want to do all the 24-hour swims back-to-back. I’ll do two this year,’ she says, ‘and then, who knows? If they did a 48-hour swim, I’d do that too!’
The Wild Swim Relays are a safe and friendly environment for kids to build confidence in open water.
Milton Abbey is a leading independent school in Dorset which promises its students the chance to ‘learn differently’. Robin Hanney – a keen swimmer and former student of the school – returned to Milton Abbey several years ago with a mission to discover new swimming opportunities for the students. Since returning, Robin has taken some of the school’s strongest swimmers to tackle Ullswater and Windermere, while also designing charitable endurance swims in the school pool, including a 24-hour swim, an English Channel swim, and, most recently, a swim inspired by the Oceans Seven, with students teaming up to swim a total of 241 km in 24 hours.
In 2022, Robin took a team of students and teachers to the Wild Swim Relay at Shepperton Lake. ‘We’ve done lots of events in the pool before,’ Robin explains, ‘but this was the first open water event. In 2022, I just entered the swimming captains – students who I knew would be able to do it – but there was so much interest that, in subsequent years, we’ve opened the event up to more students.’
Leila is a Year 12 student who’s taken part in the swim for the past two years. ‘I’ve been swimming since I was two,’ Leila says, ‘but I’d never swum in a lake before. I was a little worried about the cold, but we got lucky in 2023 – it was the year of the heatwave. In 2024, it was much harder because of the cold. I remember saying to myself, “I don’t know if I can do this,” before then having to climb back into my cold wetsuit and swim for an hour in the dark.’
But Robin and Leila agree that the festival feel helps turn a long-distance swim into a joyous event. ‘There are so many amazing moments,’ Robin says. ‘I remember sitting around the firepit at around 3am, then watching the sun rise over the lake.’ They admit there isn’t much sleep to be had. ‘I think I had a nap at 6am,’ Leila recalls. Her favourite part came at the end when the whole team got to swim together with a giant, inflatable rubber duck.
Has the Wild Swim Relay sparked your curiosity about other open water swims? ‘Yes!’ Leila says. Not only will the pair be swimming Coniston Water later this year, but Leila hopes one day to replicate Diana Nyad’s swim from Cuba to Florida. Good luck, Leila!
