When summer ends and the beaches and lidos empty, a small band of bathers up and down the country continues to take their “daily constitutional” in water that saner individuals might refuse even to dip their toes in.
Winter outdoor swimming is strictly for the hard core – and perhaps the slightly unhinged – but there is evidence to suggest that this cult pastime comes with a range of health benefits, including increased resistance to colds, improved antioxidant protection and even longer life.
Based in London’s Hyde Park and sharing a small stretch of urban lake with some bewildered looking ducks and geese, the Serpentine Swimming Club meets every Saturday morning at 8am for a freezing cold dip.
Some readers will already be familiar with these quintessential English eccentrics – both male and female – who for years appeared on Christmas morning news broadcasts for their annual Peter Pan Cup. Even in a mild winter, temperatures are rarely above freezing, and in years gone by, swimmers have had to cut a hole in the ice before entering the water.
The Christmas race is just another event in a packed year-round calendar; there is also the 1,000-metre Bridge-to-Bridge race in July and the Winter Series 100-yard handicap races which take place from October through to December. Club rules, which date back to the Victorian era, state that anyone who wants to swim on Christmas Day must get used to the cold by taking part in the Winter Series.
Willing to take the plunge are industrialists, greengrocers, dustmen, MPs and a journalist who has swum the English Channel 33 times. The oldest is an 83-year-old former RAF pilot who has been a member since 1946.
In the water, they wear nothing but swimsuits and swimcaps. On dry land, they wear coats, scarves and red woollen club hats and shout encouraging remarks from the sidelines. Some help to distribute steaming cups of tea and chocolate bars to stave off hypothermia.
“It’s a great way to start the day, and you feel the benefits for hours,” says retired financial advisor Robin Hunter-Coddington, 65, shortly after winning his heat. Already a keen sailor, Hunter was a regular bather in the Solent, not to mention the odd rural river, before discovering the club five years ago.
“We’re all fit, and very few of us seem to get colds,” he replies when asked about the health benefits of his daily regimen. “It’s actually colder when you get out of the water,” he adds, “In the water you are generating body heat, so I make sure I never do less than 200 yards, even when there’s ice on top.”
Medical research conducted in Germany, where winter swimming is more popular, found that regular winter swimmers experienced 40 per cent fewer infections of the upper respiratory tract (colds, sinusitis, bronchitis and so on). The research also revealed that regular cold water swimmers develop antioxidative protection, which is useful for combating the kind of everyday stresses or “free radicals” usually kept at bay by vitamin E. It’s a claim that Ian Gordon, the Amateur Swimming Association’s (ASA) chief medical consultant, is keen to dispute.
“There are no real long-term benefits to swimming in cold water,” he explains, “but there’s no doubt that the body does get a pleasurable sensation afterwards.
But he warns: “People who do it regularly get acclimatised to even the harshest conditions but those who don’t can suffer from sudden immersion syndrome.
“Jumping into ice-cold water virtually doubles your blood pressure, so if you have undiagnosed heart problems you could be precipitating a disaster.”
It is perhaps no wonder that the ASA recommends that bathers avoid water that is less than 16 degrees Celsius. And for anyone thinking of taking up winter outdoor swimming, Gordon suggests a slow acclimatisation process starting in the late summer. For those with cardiac problems or high blood pressure the advice is to stay away from the water completely.
“If swimming in extremely cold water, you should ease yourself gradually into the water,” he says, “Don’t, for heaven’s sake, dive in. And when you get out, dry yourself quickly and put on warm clothing. A hat is important because 25 per cent of the body’s heat loss comes from the head.”
As for the myth that winter swimming makes you live longer, Gordon is more than happy to pour cold water on it. “It’s true that a lot of older people seem to do it but the likelihood is that they’re already in good health.”
Back at the Serpentine, a huddle of startled Spanish tourists join a throng of club members and supporters to applaud the cold but euphoric finishers of yet another 100-yard race.
“We are all barmy,” says a sprightly-looking octogenarian with a decidedly blue nose, pointing to a lone tap by the side of the water, “Even the showers here are cold.”
I ask why there appears to be no hot shower available. Perhaps one might help to warm everybody up afterwards?
“The whole point is not to have access to hot water otherwise we’d have hundreds of people turning up,” he says.
“Mind you,” he adds, “we do sometimes fill a yellow bucket to dip our toes into.”
WHERE TO SWIM IN WINTER
■ The Serpentine, Hyde Park, London. The Serpentine Swimming Club was founded in 1864. Best known for its annual Christmas morning race but members swim all year round. www.serpentineswimmingclub.com
■ Tooting Bec Lido, London. Europe’s biggest lido and home to the South London Swimming Club. Also the venue for the UK’s first Cold Water Swimming Championships in January. www.slsc.org.uk
■ The sea at Brighton. Brighton is the home of Britain’s oldest swimming club (1860). Sea swimming all year round including the traditional Christmas Day dip. www.brightonsc.co.uk
■ Hampstead Heath Ponds, London. Hampstead’s winter swimmers recently won the right to swim unrestricted by Health and Safety issues, continuing a tradition that goes back to the 1860s. Three ponds open year round; men’s, ladies’ and mixed.
■ For info on open water swimming: www.river-swimming.co.uk www.britishswimming.org
