History of Swimrun in the UK

Mixed category winners - BRECA Buttermere, 2015. Photo RidgeFlow Media

Some 9 years after the first swimrun race took place on the Stockholm archipelago, 2015 saw the first swimrun races in the UK.

JULY 2015 - ENGLAND 
The first swimrun in the UK was BRECA Buttermere in the Lake District, led by Ben De Rivaz, himself an OtillO finisher in 2012. The course that Ben put together was very challenging, with killer climbs up some big Lake District terrain.

Just 13 teams stood on the start line, with two female teams, and one mixed team. All finished.
A few months later (October 2015) Mad Hatter Sports Events held the first swimrun event on the south coast of England - the Hokey Cokey Swimrun. This is the only surviving swimrun event in the UK from 2015, with John Yelland still at the helm. 

AUGUST 2015 - SCOTLAND
Hot on the heels of BRECA Buttermere, Alan Anderson held the first Scottish swimrun event, Inch by Inch in Loch Lomond, under the banner Swimrun UK. 
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Just a few weeks later, Loch Gu Loch Swimrun was launched, founded by Paul McGreal (Durty Events) and Stuart McInnes (xTriWorldTour).

JUNE 2016 - WALES
The following year saw Wales’ first swimrun in Llanberis, organised by Chloe Rafferty of LoveSwimrun. 

Indeed 2016 saw several new events across the UK, including the inaugural OtillO Isles of Scilly.

Swimrun Growth
Between 2016 & 2019 there was a micro-boom of swimrun races in the UK.

BRECA was leading the way and expanding, with new races in Jersey, Coniston and The Gower Peninsula (and overseas in New Zealand!). Indeed at one point there was a plan for a BRECA race in Ireland, and Canada.

LoveSwimrun also expanded to Holy Island on Anglesey, while new organisers As Keen As Mustard launched several grassroots races in England, led by mother & daughter Nicky and Chelsy Bailey.

In Scotland the epic Hells Hop Swimrun in the Outer Hebrides was added to the race calendar by Durty Events. Unfortunately it was discontinued after the inaugural event in 2016, but their Loch Gu Loch gathered momentum and became an OtillO Merit Race..

Meanwhile in Cornwall Mad Hatter Events added to their swimrun race calendar with Roseland Swimrun. Not too far away in Devon, Wild Running launched Rocky Horror Swimrun, as part of their Wild Festival Weekend.

The Great Run Company, a very well established event organiser, added swimrun racing to their Great Swim weekend in Windermere, and Activity Wales Events launched a swimrun in Pembrokeshire.

The OtillO World Series race on the Isles of Scilly also added a bit of swimrun “glamour” to the UK race calendar.

2020 to 2023
A period of uncertainty set in after the pandemic. Race organisers tried hard to continue to make things work, however the leading UK swimrun organiser, BRECA, fell into administration in 2022. OtillO also pulled out of the Isles of Scilly.

Holy Island by LoveSwimrun ceased to be, and all the races In Scotland have fallen by the wayside, with none in the calendar for 2024. However you’d be foolish not to expect swimrun to return to Scotland soon.

A twinkle of light was shone by 3D Events taking on the oganisation of Swimrun Jersey.

Furthermore, in this period some smaller races were born. South East Swimrun, led by Jude Palmer and Paul Mackenzie, offered short swimruns in the London area. As Keen As Mustard continued to grow, and added races to their series. 

WeSwimrun, led by Mike Alexander, introduced Tal Y Llyn Swimrun and Dyfi X Swimrun in South Snowdonia. Races were also introduced nearer population centres by Swim Oxford on the Thames,  USWIM in Manchester, and Clevedon Marine Lake near Bristol. 

Gritty Rascals took on some of the legacy routes that BRECA had left behind with the re-introduction of Swimrun Coniston in 2023, and planned for more in 2024.

Across this post-pandemic period there was a shift to offering shorter courses, and slightly more of a focus on solo racing. 

2024 and Beyond
The future of swimrun in the UK is starting to bolster again. A new race on the south coast (Studland Swimrun) founded by iSwimrun, led by David Trehane, is looking like a sell-out event. Scilly 60, led by Wez Swain, has taken on the legacy of what OtillO left behind, offering several swimrun races over a long weekend in August on the Isles of Scilly.

Following on from their success at Coniston, Gritty Rascals have taken on another former BRECA location with Swimrun Gower, set for June 2024.

At the last count there are 25 races in the UK race calendar, with several distance options across many of those events.

The 2024 season will kick off on 18 May in Liverpool with The Eliminator, organised by WeSwimrun, and will close with The Survivor in Peterborough on 29 Sep, organised by As Keen As Mustard. 

Swimrun Challenges
There are several swimrun challenges in the UK outside of the scope of racing. Two stand-out ones are The Frog Graham Round in the Lake District, and The Puddle Buckley Round in Snowdonia, and are both very challenging days out. 

Written by Mike Alexander Feb 2024.

The epic starting point of Hells Hop Swimrun, 2016. Photo: Steve Ashworth