Outdoor Swimmer Henley Swim Festival

What is the 4 Mile Challenge?

The 4 Mile Challenge is for swimmers that wish to push themselves that little bit further, and is ideal as a fund-raising option either for Level Water, or a charity of your choice. Swimmers will swim the 1 mile course 4 times throughout the day. 4x Challenge swimmers start their first mile early at 08:30 to allow time to complete all 4 miles. You will need to allow time to eat and drink, we suggest you bring enough food to last you through all 4 swims, as the queues for the food concessions may not fit with your timings. To enter this challenge you need to be sure that you can swim AND walk/jog a mile within 75 minutes. At the end of each mile, swimmers will need to walk back to the start (approx 1 mile) before starting their next mile. After your final leg you will receive a finishers’ medal and a well-earned rest.

What is the Suits vs Skins Challenge?

In a bid to once and for all determine the performance boost given by wetsuits, competitors will have the opportunity to take part in the “Suits v Skins Challenge“. Anyone who wants to take part in this challenge will need to swim the Mile twice: once with a wetsuit and once without. The winner will be the person with the fastest combined time for the two miles – but everyone taking part will see what difference swimming in a wetsuit really makes. How to Enter: Simply select Suits vs Skins on the registration form. You should wear your wetsuit for the first swim, and swim non-wetsuit for the second.

Are children allowed to swim without an adult?

If your child is aged 12 or under, you will need to make sure that they have either an accompanying adult swimming with them, or walking the tow-path alongside them. When you register your child for the event, you will be asked to confirm that you have understood this. Children aged 13+ do not require this, however we very much hope that you will be supporting your child throughout their swim. You can walk alongside all the way. We also ask you to be sure that your child has the capability to swim in the event that you enter them in.

What temperature will the water be?

As with any outdoor swim event the water temperature will depend upon both the outside temperature and the quantity of rainfall in the days and weeks running up to the event. It is therefore very difficult to predict. Based on previous years, in the middle of July we would expect the water to be between 18 and 21 degrees centigrade.

Can you guarantee the water quality?

We test the water throughout our season (June – August) to get an idea of the overall water quality on this stretch of the Thames. Over the past 5 years, 93% of our tests have come back as good or excellent measured against European Bathing Water standards. However due to the nature of moving water, and the fact that a water sample takes several days to cultivate, we cannot guarantee that the water quality on the day of the events will be satisfactory. Swimming in open water carries risks. Water quality is variable as is an individual’s tolerance to contaminants.