Swimmingpod

The volcanic Lake Bullen Merri is in Victoria, Australia, cloverleafed in shape. A little over two and a half kilometers across. Swimming here, Stanley Ulijaszek was struck by its deep history, and the history of the aboriginal Djargurd Wurrung peoples here, who were resettled in the late nineteenth century. There is a distressing swimming story here, involving the female leader of these people, Queen Fanny, the name given to her by the Europeans; real name Bareetch Chuurneen. There was a massacre at Lake Bullen Merri in 1839, and Bareetch Chuurneen got away, swimmingacross Lake Bullen Merri with the young child clinging to her back, in the night, not knowing if there would be death on the other side. This podcast is the story of Stanley’s small swim here, and the heroic swim of Bareetch Churneen back in the days of European settlement of Australia. Interval music ‘Bullen Merri’ by Tony Forbes.

Kara Mayer’s mission is to make river swimming around NewYork City safe and free. With her development of + POOL, a water-filtering floating pool for safe recreation in urban waters, she has ignited a series of policy changes that will open up access to the rivers for all New Yorkers. Thisis being trialled in the Summer of 2025, and the implications of her work for outdoor urban bathing are huge, in terms of policy, technology and knowhow. Her moto – perseverance– is one for all water quality advocates. In this podcast we discuss how the idea of the world’s first floating filtration pool came about, and how she has persevered in bringing this to fruition.

Hot town, summer in the city, and a meeting like no other. For an urban swimmer, to have a bathing platform outside the conference venue, starting on Day 1, World Bathing Day, 22nd June, with a jump into the very clean waters of the Rijnhaven, Rotterdam, is a perfect start to two days of deliberation and information sharing. Around 200 people representing organisations from around the world assembled with the aim of promoting urban swimming, and through this, raising awareness about the potential for urban swimming to regenerate waterways, improve liveability and grow climate resilience. This podcast captures some of the voices of the Summit, which connect participants engaged variously in transformation of urban waterways and improving their swimmability. Interviewees include Henk Ovink, Katie Pumphrey, Charity Mosienyane, Marilotte Stemedink, Mark Turpac, Maja Beck, Marie Roende-Becker, Peggy Knudsen, Benjamin David, Christoph Bosshardt, Hans Henrik Heming, ChristineGuldborg Christensen, Simon Laing, Loretta Bellato, Andy Bevan, Innes Miller and Rebecca Olive. Thanks go to co-interviewer Fiona Gibson.

Tony Forbes and Col Ritchie are regulars at the annual Pierto Pub ocean swim in Lorne, Victoria. This can be a fierce race, when swimming can be a contact sport. Notwithstanding this, this fearsome duo amount nearly a century and a half of life experience between them, and swimming enough Pier toPubs leads to the honour of receiving a shark bait award, two or more if you live long enough and/or you don’t get taken by a shark. Tony and Col take it seriously enough to train regularly in their local pool. Which is where I jointhem, one crisp Australian spring morning.

Stanley Ulijaszek offers some reflections about swimming in Victoria in Australia on the coast at Queenscliffe. On a beautifulbeach, long and stretching towards a point to the left and another to theright, at Point Lonsdale. A swim with a Hopper-esque sailboat sailing in gentlebut business-like fashion, in front of the lighthouse that signals the pointwhere Australia lost a Prime Minister to the water and to the waves. RustCloud, Richard Serra, rusted iron slabs of sails sculpted by the wind. Strongerout there than here in gentle crawl parallel to the sandy shore. What three wordstell the world where I am? Iterative.underwrite.swimming. A day of sun andswimming to rain and a broken car key. From delight to distress and back again.

Charlotte Sawyer is a documentary film maker and photographer who captures cinematic stories that cross cultures and boundaries. She has worked in conflict zones and places vulnerable to climate change, notably Iraq, Ethiopia and Nigeria. Aggie Nyagari is a Kenyan film and TV director, who brings the diversity of her life experiences into her work. Charlotte and Aggie both live, swim and work in Bristol. Together they have made a beautiful new film - Rave On for the Avon - capturing the Conham Bathing Group communities love for their river, and their fight for to gain Bathing Water Quality status for it. This podcast was recorded at Conham, where Stanley Ulijaszek, Charlotte Sawyer and Aggie Nyagari talk about the film and its making, and the River Avon and its swimming people.

This podcast is about open water swimming in London – given how urban this global city is, it is not immediately obvious that this is a great place for open water swimming. Indeed, there is a thriving open water swimming scene. More accurately, there are several open water swimming scenes in London - in rivers (usually the River Thames), lakes, ponds, and outdoor pools. Here are four personal accounts of swimming in London in river, pond, lake and pool, respectively. These are: from Teddington to Richmond, in the Thames; in the Ponds at Hampstead Heath; at the Serpentine Swimming Club in Hyde Park; and with the South London Winter Swimming Club at Tooting Bec Lido. These are extracts from the book ‘Memories like Water – Swimming in 65 places at the age of 65’, swum in 2019-20. All pre-pandemic swims, the one at Tooting Bec being on the cusp of COVID-19 lockdown.