The Kendal Mountain Festival is presenting its Outdoor Swimming Session with an outstanding line-up of speakers on November 23rd at the Kendal Town Hall.
The Session is hosted by Ella Foote with a number of engaging speakers including:
- Katie Wotton (@ocean_calls_swimming)
- Rebecca Mark-Lawson (@tykefilms)
- Sam Farrow (@sfarrow93)
- Rebecca Wetten (@reclaimthesea)
- Anna Southwell (@refswelcomens)
- Yasser Kebbeh
- Tim, Jack, and Arron of IceBreakers
- Sara Lessmann of Sh*t Swimmer
Ella Foote
Ella Foote is a prolific open water swimmer, frequent host of festivals, a journalist, speaker, writer, coach, editor of the Outdoor Swimmer Magazine (@outdoorswimmer), founder of The Dip Advisor, and a swim guide.
Katie Wotton
Katie Wotton (@ocean_calls_swimming) tells her story here that starts off lonely, but how open water swimming has connected her with a wider community, both in the water and online. She campaigns for better access to open water for people with disabilities and how she and others can kickstart with lives with joy.
Rebecca Mark-Lawson
Rebecca Mark-Lawson produced Plunge about Katie Wotton and founder Tyke Films (see here). She produces multiple award-winning documentary and fiction films for Film4, Channel 4, BFI and BBC Films and has released her film throughout Europe, USA, Canada, New Zealand, Australia and has won Best Documentary and Raindance Discovery Award at the BIFAs and Grand Prix at FAME Festival.
Sam Farrow
Ice Miler Samantha Farrow has achieved all kinds of things in the open water besides being an International Ice Swimming Association official from Manchester, England:
- She set the women’s record of swimming 72.8 km across Lake Geneva between France and Switzerland in 22 hours 48 minutes in 2024.
- Together with Tracy Mistry, Claire Poole, and Caroline Saxon, she completed the first four-person relay 13 times across Lake Windermere in England in 77 hours 39 minutes, swimming 219.7 km in 2022.
- In January 2023, she participated in a relay with Cath Pendleton, Niamh McCarthy, Sian Clement, Caroline Saxon, and Nicola Such across the English Channel.
- She completed the Scottish Triple Crown with crossings of Loch Awe, Loch Lomond, and Loch Ness.
Anna Southwell
Anna Southwell started The Supermares to help people reimagine the idea of swimming in the murky waters of Weston-super-mare. She is one of the Refugees Welcome North Somerset team, she coordinates between local refugees and Reclaim the Sea.
Rebecca Wetten
Rebecca Wetten is an open water swimmer from Bristol and a leader and fundraiser for Reclaim the Sea that helps refugees and asylum seekers experience the sea as a safe and joyful space. Through swimming and watersports lessons, they provide skills to help cope with trauma, boost physical health, mental wellbeing and a sense of community. Earlier this year, she completed a 13 km charity swim in a loop course to raise funds for swimming programs for refugees and asylum-seekers in the region.
Yasser Kebbeh
Yasser Kebbeh is now a qualified open water lifeguard who emigrated from Syria to the UK. On his journey from the Middle East, he swam for 10 hours as part of a crossing and now has a positive relationship with the sea with the help of Reclaim the Sea.
Tim, Jack and Arron of the IceBreakers
Tim, Jack and Arron co-founded IceBreakers to help men with their mental health. Their community of men supporting men uses cold water immersion as a tool to build a community.
Sara Lessmann
Sara Lessman is an American stand-up comedian, writer, actor, YouTuber, weightlifter, outdoor sports lover, and filmmaker who made the film Sh*t Swimmer that is set in 2028 where swimming is illegal because of sewage dumping, but one self-proclaimed daredevil seeks to break a record swim time in polluted water without getting sick or arrested.
For more information on the Outdoor Swimming Session at the 2024 Kendal Mountain Festival, visit here.
© 2024 Daily News of Open Water Swimming
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