Christmas Day is all about tradition. Celebrating where you’re from at a personal, societal and national level – whether that incorporates a spot of religion or not.
And so it is that every Christmas morning for over three decades, Chris Ruocco, President of the Highgate Lifebuoys, stands beside the men’s swimming ponds on Hampstead Heath and parps out a rendition of Hark The Herald Angels on a bugle. This is the festive call to arms which signals the start of the traditional swimming races.
This scene has taken place on the Heath every Christmas Day since 1895, come rain, shine or more to the point, ice. Hyde Park’s Serpentine yuletide race may be slightly more ancient (dating back to 1864), and a variety of sea swims take place across the country on this date too, but the Heath pond races remain a test for the hardcore. In recent years, ice has had to be carefully kept at bay – the swim took place on a year the Serpentine’s was called off due to its waters being set rock solid – so conditions are about as chilly as it bears thinking about.
It takes a certain type of person to want to participate in this bracing ritual. Chris Connelly won the race a couple of years back, regaining the crown 51 years to the date since his first win, as the youngest ever champ at 15. The following year, his grandson Lloyd Bruce, aged only 16, replaced him in first place. Not the average family Christmas tradition, but strangely unsurprising to see such foolhardy sporting endeavour pass down the generations on this particular December date.
Regular swimmers at the ponds tend to avoid all the festive splashing, favouring the serenity of the other 364 mornings a year. Journalist and LSE think tank director Charlie Beckett blogs about his regular dips at Heath Snatches. He tweeted us to say that he won’t be there, but did share his chilling yet resolutely jolly snap of the famous water temperature blackboard from Xmas Day 2011.
‘You know its cold when they get the coir matting out for the men’s jetty,’ he says. ‘But you know it’s really cold when that gets covered in frost.’
We have Ben at the excellent Cold Pond Water to thank for today’s Wednesday Picture of that very coir matting, taken just a few days ago. Enough to send most of us dashing for a mince pie and warming brandy this very minute, and even more so at around 11am on the 25th, when the races are about to start at the ponds.
‘The Christmas Day swim is a good laugh if you don’t mind a few flailing limbs,’ he says, ‘but some regulars give it a miss in favour of a more sedate swim before the crowds gather. I’d recommend doing it once to check it out. I did it a few years ago… but not this year. I’m cooking.’
He says the allure of a winter’s dip is that it is simply the best way to start any day. ‘Some people probably think it’s a bit bonkers, but whether I’ve got a hangover or have a bad mood that won’t shift, I always feel better after a swim. The more scientifically-minded will probably have a better explanation for it, but I just feel a great rush after entering the water and the buzz hangs around for a good while afterwards.’
Year-round Heath swimming continues to provide a rich source of debate and passion. Tim Sowula has written about the hallowed waters in the Kentishtowner twice this year, Why It Matters: Free Swimming In Highgate Ponds highlighting the furore over emposed charges and his review of Caitlin Davies detailed study on the pursuit, ‘Taking The Waters’.
Read the book. Put the swim in the list of things to do in London before you die. Or if so much as the thought of it threatens to bring on a seasonal coronary, just watch the tradition unfold in this video and tuck in to another of those mince pies.
Words: Tom Kihl
Main Pic: Ben White
Additional Photography: Ruth Corney
