Torquay to Brixham Swim

Competitors take to the water for the annual Torquay to Brixham swim.

Swimmers take part in the annual Torquay to Brixham swim. Swimmers usually swim from Torquay's Meadfoot Beach to Brixham's Fishcombe Cove and traditionally the race is a return trip totalling eight miles across the marine inlet of Tor Bay. Torbay is a borough and unitary authority comprising the towns of Torquay, Paignton and Brixham known as the English Riviera.

The British Long Distance Swimming Association was set up in 1956. It recognised a need for regulating traditional long-distance swims such as the Torquay to Brixham swim. Open water swimming now features in the Summer Olympics although it was first introduced as part of the 2000 Sydney Olympic's Triathlon where competitors first swim a fifteen hundred metres or a mile, then cycle forty kilometres before running ten thousand metres. Long distance swimmers pause and take on fluids and food provided by support canoes and kayaks in order to maintain energy levels. There is no lane etiquette associated with open water swimming and top-level competitions may be quite brutal argy-bargy affairs.