H2Open, the World’s first dedicated open water swimming magazine, has joined forces with seven race organisers to create Britain’s first National Open Water Swimming Ranking Series for 2012.

The concept is simple. Swimmers will have to complete three of the seven races to participate and will be awarded points based on their finishing position. The top swimmers in each age group will be crowned national champions at the end of the year. Race distances range from 1 mile to 5 km and take place in the sea, rivers and lakes around Britain.

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Safety is of paramount importance to the Amateur Swimming Association (ASA) and British Swimming in the conduct of any Open Water Swimming event / competition.

Click to download Guidance, Safe Operating Procedures & Risk Assessment.

3 September 2011 - Sandbanks to Southbourne

Congratulations to everyone who took part in our annual 10km swim. There were some very creditable performances but everyone swam brilliantly. Well done!

We have posted times for the swim below. A great swim from Emma Baird showed the boys a thing or two!

We woiuld like to thank Linda Vides and family for providing refreshments at the end of the swim

A 70-year old retired breast cancer surgeon who swam in July’s ASA SW Region Open Water Competition at Weymouth is preparing to become the oldest person to swim the English Channel in August.

Roger Allsopp will start his record breaking swim on 23/24 August 2011, hoping to raise £750,000 for the purchase of cutting edge cancer research medical equipment at the University of Southampton.

Allsopp is no stranger to pushing his body to the limit, having run the London Marathon 10 years ago and completed a successful Channel crossing in 2006.

Ann and Tom McGrath and Dee Taylor can feel very proud of swimming in excess of 35 miles in their valiant attempt to swim the English Channel.

“No-one can really prepare you for what it’s really like out there, especially when it’s lumpy and then the wind and tide turn against you and you’re already exhausted.

“Thanks to all of you for supporting us. We felt it on the day.”

14 August 2011 - Southbourne

In the 3.8km Long Swim, Mark Harris (3rd Veteran, 01:04:09) and Mark Richardson (01:08:34) finished 7th and 12th respectively. Emily Gall (Abbott) came 2nd in the Female Senior category in 01:15:10. In their respective Super Vet categories, Tony Harris (01:16:49) came 3rd, Jonathan Easterbrooke (01:19:37) 4th, Simon Gregan (01:20:10) 5th and Margaret Rouse (01:56:46) 3rd

Winner of the Seahorse Swim 2011, Mark Forrester (male Veteran) clocked up another win in the 1 mile swim (00:22:10). Club members Paul Morrison (00:27:08, Male Senior) and Ali Budynkiewicz (00:46:32, Female Super Vet) came first in their respective categories.

Click to view results.

Congratulations to East Dorset Open Water Swimming Club members who successfully swam around Brownsea Island nr Poole on a beautiful summer’s day. A special well done to club members Steve McCarthy, who is blind, and his guide Ann McGrath who is preparing for her second Channel relay swim in August.

We would like to thank RLSS Poole Lifeguard who organised the annual event with the support of many volunteers from various lifeguarding groups, the John Lewis Partnership, the National Trust and our Club.

Emily Gall (1.32.29) and Stuart Purcell (1.32.46) came second in their respective wetsuit and non-wetsuit categories.

BHF has announced that the Bournemouth Pier to Pier swim that had to be postponed due to severe weather on Sunday 17 July has been rescheduled to Sunday 4 September 2011.

Everyone already registered for the original swim will automatically be transferred to the new date and all timings will remain the same. Yellow hat swimmers will start at 10am and red hat swimmers will start at 12 noon.

Due to the change in date, some additional places have become available for the 10am start and are available on a first come first served basis. Register now to avoid missing out.

Due to unforeseen severe weather conditions predicted for Sunday 17 July, and after taking advice from their water safety team, BHF took the decision on Friday 15 July 2011 at 11.55am to postpone their Pier to Pier Swim.

They are very sorry to let swimmers down at the last minute, but with waves of around 2 metres suddenly predicted for Sunday morning it was a decision they had to make.