MEET TEAM OSC
CAROLINE
Caroline is the founder of The Outdoor Swimming Company and over the last few years the team has grown to include the team introduced below.
Caroline first dipped her toes into a lake aged 13, but has been in the water since 9 weeks old. At 13, she went from being a competitive pool swimmer, to being the Great Britain Women’s 5km Grand Prix Champion and subsequently racing in open water for Great Britain aged 15 in 2006.
Following some time out of the competitive swimming scene due to a period of poor mental health, Caroline felt something was missing. She found Cliff Lakes who helped her learn to love swimming again.
CAROLINE
Caroline is the founder of The Outdoor Swimming Company and over the last few years the team has grown to include the team introduced below.
Caroline first dipped her toes into a lake aged 13, but has been in the water since 9 weeks old. At 13, she went from being a competitive pool swimmer, to being the Great Britain Women’s 5km Grand Prix Champion and subsequently racing in open water for Great Britain aged 15 in 2006.
Following some time out of the competitive swimming scene due to a period of poor mental health, Caroline felt something was missing. She found Cliff Lakes who helped her learn to love swimming again.
Caroline’s best accomplishment is achieving World Records at Ice Swimming and winning medals at the World Ice Swimming Championships in Murmansk, Głogów and Samoëns.
Favourite swim has to be swimming in the Fjords and through the caves on the Faroe Islands. Her top post swim snacks are an oat flat white, and a bacon roll with brown sauce, followed by Clare’s homemade cakes!
Caroline’s ultimate bucket list swim is the Bering Strait. She likes to pioneer her own routes and swim away from usual bucket list swims. She established the 3 Peaks 3 Lakes team challenge where we were the first to climb the three highest peaks in Scotland, England and Wales and swam the three longest lakes in 55 hours. She also is a record holder for the Longest Freshwater Relay she completed as part of a fully female team (also with Sam)!
Swimming has taken her to some phenomenal places: Bavaria, Montenegro, Albania, Slovenia, Russia, The Faroe Islands, and many beautiful spots around the UK.
Caroline’s best accomplishment is achieving World Records at Ice Swimming and winning medals at the World Ice Swimming Championships in Murmansk, Głogów and Samoëns.
Favourite swim has to be swimming in the Fjords and through the caves on the Faroe Islands. Her top post swim snacks are an oat flat white, and a bacon roll with brown sauce, followed by Clare’s homemade cakes!
Caroline’s ultimate bucket list swim is the Bering Strait. She likes to pioneer her own routes and swim away from usual bucket list swims. She established the 3 Peaks 3 Lakes team challenge where we were the first to climb the three highest peaks in Scotland, England and Wales and swam the three longest lakes in 55 hours. She also is a record holder for the Longest Freshwater Relay she completed as part of a fully female team (also with Sam)!
Swimming has taken her to some phenomenal places: Bavaria, Montenegro, Albania, Slovenia, Russia, The Faroe Islands, and many beautiful spots around the UK.
- STA Level 2 Open Water Swimming Coaching
- STA Level 2 Open Water Safety
- STA Level 1 Pool to Open Water Swimming Coaching
- ASA Level 1 Swimming Teacher
Clare
Clare is a Level 2 Triathlon Coach, is rescue trained and has been the mama bear of Team OSC since the start.
Clare coaches group sessions, and swims all year round.
Clare started swimming in the sea in Dorset on family holidays, swam at school and for a local club. She got back into swimming as an adult via triathlons and never looked back.
Her favourite swim is the St Ives Biathlon which consists of a short run and a scenic swim back to the harbour for a pasty and a pint!
Her best accomplishment is watching people who couldn’t even put their face in the water complete a race and enjoy it!
Her top post swim snack is a hot Ribena and Cadbury’s fruit and nut.
Her ultimate bucket list swim is across Lake Lugano from Switzerland to Italy.
Tim
Tim is a level 2 swimming teacher and is rescue trained.
He has been part of Team OSC since 2022, and coaches group sessions. Tim also loves scuba diving.
Tim started to swim as a baby, with his mum taking him in the water from a young age.
He comes from a swimming teaching family!
His favourite swim is Komodo Island, Indonesia (he lived in Indonesia, and he probably will tell you!).
His best accomplishments are surviving his first winter season in skins and completing his first triathlon.
His top post swim snack is a hard boiled egg, and a chocolate flapjack and his ultimate bucket list swim is Alcatraz to San Francisco.
Deb
Deb is rescue trained, and a Level 2 swimming teacher and coaches group sessions and swims all year round.
Deb, like Caroline, started as a competitive swimmer from 9 years old.
She had a period of falling out of love with swimming completely. She didn’t venture out into the open water at Cliff Lakes until 2018, which is where she fell back in love with the water. She met Caroline at Cliff Lakes and joined Team OSC in 2021.
Deb doesn’t really have a favourite swim but loves anywhere where she can swim with friends for a few hours.
Her best accomplishment is winning an age group bronze medal at the World Ice Swimming Championships in 2023 in Samoens, France.
Her top post swim snack is any of Clare’s homemade cakes (they are excellent!) and her ultimate bucket list swim is a solo channel crossing (but she just needs to get over her sea swimming fears)!
Sarah
Sarah is an Assistant Coach, is working towards her Level 2 Open Water Coach in 2023 and has been part of Team OSC since 2022.
Sarah coaches group sessions and swims all year round.
Sarah has always been a swimmer, but started swimming in 2014 when she signed up to a sea swim in Cornwall.
Her favourite swim is the Menai Straight swim, and her best accomplishment is completing a solo Windermere End to End in 2022, especially as she admits that she did not put in the training that she would have liked to have completed!
Her top post swim snack is cake, washed down with hot chocolate.
And her ultimate bucket list swim is swimming in the Norwegian Fjords.
Raf
Raf is a Level Two Open Water Coach and has been part of Team OSC since 2022.
He coaches group, and 121 sessions.
Raf started as a child in river in Spain while his grandma did the washing, but did swim in a pool at school. He has never really liked pools unless they are outdoors!
Best achievements are the coveted ice mile (one mile in less than 5 degree water in just your togs) as well as swimming Windermere end to end and all of the Cumbria lakes.
His favourite swim has to be his two way Crummock Water (there and back)!
His top post swim snack is a hot chocolate and a bacon and sausage cob.
And his ultimate bucket list swim is a solo channel or relay swim, but for adventure swimming, he would like to explore more of Scotland.
Neil
Neil has been part of Team OSC since the start. He was there when Caroline scribbled her ideas on the whiteboard in his office.
Neil mainly supports the Introduction to Winter Sessions, and is chief of marketing for Team OSC through his business netvisibility.co.uk (but actually gets his colleague Kofi to do all the work).
Neil first got into outdoor swimming when he wanted to do something to celebrate his 50 th birthday. Instead of signing up for a marathon, which was his first thought, he entered the escape from Alcatraz swim and has been hooked since.
His best accomplishment is winning an age group bronze in the World Ice Swimming Championships in 2023 in Samoens, France (yes it surprised us too; apparently, he started training).
His top post swim snack is a double bacon sandwich from the Kingsbury Café, and history ultimate bucket list swim is an ice mile, which he is fully capable of, but the UK sub 5 degree water temperatures have been elusive over the last few seasons.
Rich
Rich is rescue trained and has also been part of Team OSC since the start as a helping hand.
Rich often gets us out of staffing pickles and is a great addition to the team.
Rich started swimming as a youngster, but more under the water than on top, mainly in north east leisure centres and in the sea .
At 35, he decided to learn front crawl so he could compete in triathlons and always maintain it was the best 1 hour and £25 he ever spent as it set him on the path to loving swimming both indoors and outdoors.
His best achievement has to be enjoying Winter Swimming without a wetsuit after being nagged by Caroline to give it a go.
His favourite swims are any Scottish Loch; they never disappoint.
His top post race snacks are chocolate coated raisins and salted peanuts, and his ultimate bucket list swim is The Neptune Steps in Scotland.
Sam
Sam is the owner of Hydra Open Water Coaching, who Team OSC partner with, and you will see her on some retreats, and adventure days.
Sam is an Open Water Coach, is rescue trained and from a competitive swimming background.
Sam started swimming outdoors when she was 13 and won an age group silver medal in the 1km event at the World Ice Swimming Championships in 2023, in Samoens.
Her favourite swim was her ice mile (madness).
Her best accomplishments are an extreme ice mile in Austria in 2023, or the record breaking Windermere 13 way relay in 2022.
Sam’s top post swim snack is a chocolate chip flapjack, and her ultimate bucket list swim is Lake Geneva end to end.