6. What level of swimming ability should I have?

You must be able to swim 2km or 3.9km confidently before taking part in the longer distance events. If you cannot do this, or if this is your first open water swimming event, we recommend the 750m event as a great starting point.

We recommend that competitors in all distances have some open water swimming experience.

If you are planning to swim in skins, you must have trained in similar cold water temperatures for similar lengths of time as your chosen distance, with no adverse effect.