Great Swim

The Great North Swim is for swimmers of all abilities. Most people taking part will not have swum in the outdoors before, so you won’t be alone! The...

Entries will close at 10am on the Thursday of the event weekend or when the event reaches capacity (whichever is sooner).

The age limit depends on what distance you are due to swim: You must be 8 years or over on the day of the event to enter a 250m swim. Every child aged 1...

We will have waves of swimmers taking part in the event throughout the weekend. The full timetable for the 2024 weekend will be posted online very soon.  W...

You can train for the event in the swimming pool by continually increasing your distance.  You can find advice on training and outdoor swimming here.

For safety reasons the Great North Swim features dry-land sections at the start and finish of the course so may not be suitable for all swimmers. If you...

Equipment or costumes that restrict the swimmer or potentially cause any injury to other swimmers in a confined swimming environment will NOT be allowed. ...

The date of the Great North Swim has been chosen to avoid any peak periods in blue-green algae and we will be monitoring the water quality in the lead up to...

In our bid to leave a lighter footprint on our environment, we will no longer be sending out swimmers’ packs through the post. Not only will this mean that...