8am to 10am- Swimmer arrival
Try and arrive on time and with your team. We can’t guarantee any space so arrive early to give yourself plenty of time to set up.

11:30am - All swimmer briefing with first swimmer ready to swim. We’ll send you all the briefing beforehand to have a read.

Midday Saturday - First swimmer enters the water. And so it begins.

Midday Sunday - Last swimmer exits the water. And so it ends.

Lake 32 Outdoor Centre

Spratsgate Ln, Cirencester GL7 6DF

Please aim to car share wherever possible.

Parking is in the Cotswold Country Park car park.

Use postcode GL7 6DF for Sat Nav directions.

From the car park, you’ll need to carry your kit to the camping area (around 400m). If you need assistance, please let us know on the day.

When you arrive, please head to the registration desk to register.

You can only register yourself so everyone will need to register.

You’ll be given a swimming hat you must wear while swimming and one wristband per team.

The wristband is to be worn by the person swimming and no one else. You’ll swap it over every hour.

Please be considerate to everyone and pack light and share kit where possible to save space at the campsite.

For safety reasons, the 24 hours is split into hourly stints. This is so we can easily keep track of who is in and out of the water.

It’ll run a little bit like this:

1. The first swimmer will enter the water at midday.

2. At 12:50, we will stop swimmers starting a new lap and you’ll exit the water.

3. When you get to land, find your team mate and give them your swimmers wrist band (Which we’ll give one per team at registration)

4. When the last swimmer of the first stint has rounded the first buoy, we’ll let the next wave a swimmers start.

5. Repeat for the next 23 hours.

So, just make sure your next swimmer is ready and at the water entry point at 50 minutes past the hour, every hour and you’ll be golden.

You will be allowed to swim for more than one hour at a time, but we ask you to check out and back in again for safety reasons.

If someone in your team is injured and pulls out prior to the event, please let us know their name so we can remove them from the list. New members can join by registering through the website, or using a ticket transfer link from a swimmer who needs to cancel. Find your swimmer dashboard to transfer.

Team members can join you later in the day but they must register beforehand and read the briefing when they arrive. But please have most of your team arrive no later than 10am and join the briefing at 11:30am.

This is the strictest we’ll be. Absolutely no open fires anywhere (other than our communal fire pit)

Gas stoves will be allowed but please, not in tents and keep a close eye on them.

Lights in the water (whilst swimming)

• These are very important and without them you will not be allowed in the water from 7pm - 7am. And we will be very strict about it.

• You MUST have two (static/NOT flashing) lights on you when you swim at night. One white one attached to your goggles and a different colour in your tow float. This is so the safety team can see where you are in the water and which direction you are swimming. You only need one set per team. These ones are great.

Lights on land

• We want to keep the site as dark as possible, so it really feels like night-time. Use torches, lamps or head torches when walking around the site.

Feel free to invite your family and friends to support you during the day - but as soon as the sun sets we ask that all non-swimmers toddle off for the night. They are more than welcome back at sunrise.

We’re trying to run this event with as little waste as possible which means we will not be providing food or drink. Please bring your own food and drink for the duration and take away all your rubbish at the end. You can bring small gas stoves to cook on and we’ll have a couple of hot water urns, but please bring your own mug.

Personally, I'd bring a few of those boil in the bag packets that just need hot water. And flapjacks. Always flapjacks.

The Lake32 cafe will be open for you from 10am - 6pm Saturday, and 6am - midday on Sunday. However we always recommend to bring your own food and drinks so no-one runs out of anything.

Tow Floats

All swimmers must wear a tow float during our WSR events this summer. This is because the majority of the lakes hosting events this summer have mandatory tow float safety policies, regardless of whether swimmers wear wetsuits.

As Wild Swim Relay events often attract swimmers with a wide range of outdoor swimming experience - including many who are relatively new to open water - tow floats provide an important additional safety measure, helping swimmers remain visible and easier to support if needed.

Please also note that, pending a safety assessment on the day, we often try to allow the full team to enter the water together during the event's final hour, giving everyone the chance to swim as much or as little as they’d like. Please factor this into your tow float planning for your team.

Night-time Swimming

You will be swimming at night which means it will be dark. That’s what makes this event so challenging and exciting. The buoys on the water will be lit up to help you spot where to go, and there will be water support kayaks on the water at all times for the 24 hours covering the 400m loop. We suggest giving a night time swim a go before the weekend if you can.

Wetsuits are not compulsory during the day but please bring one with you as backup. If you want to swim in skins at night, please fill in the skins swimmer form below.

Swimming at night for long periods is very different to swimming during the day and you will get much colder.

Let’s be honest, this is likely. And there’s very little we can do about it. We want you to feel part of nature this weekend so if it rains a lot be prepared to hide in tents and cars and under umbrellas.

We’ll make the decision to suspend swimming for high winds, heavy rain, or thunderstorms on the day. And our decision is final.

We will be using the ‘leave-no-trace’ mantra for all our sites so please take your rubbish and recycling home with you. There won’t be enough bins for us all so do your bit and take it home.

Please be considerate when hanging out near the camping area, it goes without saying that some swimmers may be having a little snooze and any lights or noise could be detrimental to their slumber. We will be doing our best to keep music and lights to a minimum while we swim through the night.

We will have a medical team on standby at all times so PLEASE tell them if you are at all concerned about your health or feel strange at any time. Our volunteers can point you in the right direction and we promise to cover you with blankets and cuddles if you feel cold. Keeping everyone safe is our top-priority in, and out of the water.

Also, learn how to identify coldness in others. Are they quieter than usual, or more tired. If you have any concerns speak to them and the medical team immediately.

If you or any of your spectators have had diarrhoea/vomiting within 48 hours before the event, please do not attend. If you become unwell during the event, please let one of the team on site know and kindly head home from the event. (As long as it is safe to do so).

• Please note that no alcohol can be consumed on site.

• Please bring plenty of spare clothing to keep yourself warm.

• Make sure you bring suitable shoes to protect your feet while walking around the site.

• Please bring personal medication if required (eg inhalers, epipens etc).

• It is important that you are aware of the symptoms of water-borne illnesses and do your best to look after yourself and reduce your risk of getting ill. Here’s an interesting article on the topic.

• If you’ve been diagnosed with a heart condition since buying your ticket, we kindly ask you to please not swim - this is for your own safety.