This year, we're taking the ‘Every Body Swim' campaign to the Arla Great North Swim - showcasing that swimming is for everyone and that all swimmers should be celebrated.
Everyone is welcome at the Arla Great North Swim, and we want as many people to experience the freedom and sense of belonging that comes from open and cold water swimming. So, no matter your age, sex, ethnicity, swimming experience, mental or physical ability - you can feel inspired to improve and enhance your health.
Mark Shayler, 56, lives in Leicestershire. He says he was ‘changed, saved almost' by cold water swimming, and signed up for the Arla Great North Swim to celebrate how swimming has transformed his life. This is the first year Mark has taken part in the Arla Great North Swim and he'll be taking part in the 1 mile event.
What do you like about open water swimming?
“I love entering the water and feeling all the heat leave my body, then diving under and listening to the muffling of the world above. I hold my breath until my lungs sing, come up and breathe in again as if for the first time. All my senses come back to life.
“I love the meditative element; the theta brainwaves swimming creates. I love the prickle on my skin when I get out. I love the half-life of the swim still fizzing in my body three hours later.
“I love it all. I've never had a bad swim.”
How does open water swimming make you feel?
“Free. Young. Energised. Calm. It makes me feel alive.”
What does your training involve?
“I'm swimming 1-1.5 miles in a pool every Monday with the most brilliant instructor. I'm also going open water swimming at Highgate Ponds once a week.
“Later in the spring, I'll start outdoor swimming more frequently at a pond close to me. I swim all year - in the summer, I swim four times a week.”
How has swimming inspired you or improved your daily life?
“Cold water binds me and my mates. My swimming coach has changed me more than anyone else.
“Swimming has given me a place to meditate, a place to find myself and a place to lose myself. It's changed me - saved me, even.
“I always feel better afterwards. If I'm stuck with something at work, if I need to come up with a new way of doing something, I'll go into water. If I'm feeling glum, I go into the water.
“And then there's the physical side of things: swimming is such an amazing, aerobic, non-weight bearing, incredibly egalitarian exercise, and I think we overlook it. Sometimes our experiences of swimming and of swimming pools aren't always great, and I think it's time that we change that. It is literally an activity for every body, for every mind.”
The Arla Great North Swim will be back on 7-9 June 2024
Choose from six different open water swimming distances to suit all ages, abilities, and level of experience. Whether you're looking to get fit, improve your time, soak up some nature or raise money for charity, you‘ll be part of an amazing collective experience - guaranteed. Dive into nature and join us at the UK's biggest open water swimming event.
So, what do you say - see you on the shore? View event information here.