UK’s First Cold Water Swimming Championships 2006

The first UK Cold Water Swimming Championships, held over the weekend of 21-22 January 2006, launched the centenary celebrations for the Lido and the South London Swimming Club. The event had been inspired by a trip to Finland the previous year by a small group of intrepid SLSC swimmers who took part in the ice swimming championships at Oulu. The inaugural UK event attracted 320 swimmers from home and abroad. A month later, the SLSC returned to Finland for the World Winter Swimming Championships, at the end of which the club was invited to host the next World event at Tooting in 2008. It was a big success and, as a thank-you, the Finns presented the SLSC with the sauna which now stands behind the café. Since 2009 the UK Cold Water Swimming Championships have taken place every other year.