After a hot summer, the River Dart was a calm and balmy 16C this weekend for its swimmers. 6 OTS open water swimmers took part this year with Rowan, Izzy, Grace, Katie and Simon completing their first 10k, and Emily her 3rd Dart 10k qualifying her a “gold cap”.

The meandering salty river was punctuated with 2 floating feed station pontoons, lots of spectators waving along the right bank and 800 swimmers of all ages, sizes and speed in the water.

Due to a lack of rainfall over the past months, the current was considerably slower than previous years, but that (and the wetsuit chafe) didn’t stop Grace from cruising in at 2hr11. Katie came out of the water shortly behind Grace. Then Emily, Izzy, Simon and Rowan followed, all with a spectacular silt beard on their faces. 

In lieu of medals, all swimmers were awarded with a much appreciated Dart10k mug filled with hot chocolate as they cross the timing mat. 

“So great to achieve something I’ve been meaning to do for years! Looking forward to doing it all again in Wales (Hurly Burly 10k swim) in 2 weeks!” - Rowan