On 16 January 2025, the Serpentine Swimming Club organised an evening of talks in west London, featuring club swimmers who had completed long distance swims recently. You can watch video recordings of their talks here.
The club has a long history of encouraging long distance swimmers achieve their goals and was inducted to the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame in 2021, as an Honoree Organisation.
Every year, club swimmers train for long distance swims, supported by the tight-knit community of the club.
In November 2023, Hon. Secretary Laure Latham organised the first Long Swims Night, featuring six club members who discussed swimming across the English Channel: Alan Luckhurst, Drew Fobbester, Laure Latham, Lucy Ashdown-Parkes, Polly Downes, Stuart Bowman
On 16 January 2025, the evening of swimming talks was back with new swims and new projects at the cozy Roebuck pub in Chiswick. The 2025 talks were filmed by Serpie Tom Campbell so that others, in the club and beyond, could benefit from these inspiring experiences from the comfort of their home. The 2025 distance swims included amazing feats, such as:
- 100k D-Day relay from England to Calais. Swimmer: Katie Berlyn-Holmes
- English Channel and Robben Island. Swimmer: Stuart Bowman
- Coniston and Windermere. Swimmer: Luke Belfield
- Catalina Channel. Swimmer: Mark Johansen
- Fastnet. Swimmer: Lucy Ashdown-Parkes
- North Channel: Jon Southey
SSC members greatly enjoyed the evening, and some have even been inspired to crew for others' swims or take part in an English Channel relay.
[report by Laure Latham]
SSC Long Swims Night 2025 - Our swimmers
From left to right: SSC members Luke Belfield, Lucy Ashdown-Parkes, Jon Southey, Mark Johansen, Katie Berlyn-Holmes, Stuart Bowman