Triathlon Scotland Release Statement on Outdoor Swimming in Scotland
Triathlon Scotland in agreement with Scottish Swimming have released a statement on open water swimming in Scotland after the first minister Nicola Sturgeon unveiled the easing of lockdown rules.
Official Statement from Triathlon Scotland and Scottish Swimming:
In response to the First Minister’s announcement today about the phased easing of restrictions including some outdoor sports, Triathlon Scotland in agreement with Scottish Swimming would like to offer some advice around open water swimming when the easing of restrictions begins. Triathlon Scotland, would urge everyone to recognise the following:
- The phased easing of restrictions will not begin until the 28th of May at the earliest. Until this easing begins, open water swimming is not one of the Scottish Government’s advised forms of outside activity and we ask triathletes to respect this message.
- Social distancing guidelines still apply and we NEVER advise taking part in open water swimming alone
- If you are not used to swimming in open water, we strongly urge you NOT to start now
- Open water sites including beaches and lochs are not currently supervised. There is no one to help you if you get in trouble and emergency services may not be able to get to you in time
- Clubs should not be encouraging or providing training sessions even for seasoned open water swimmers
- Water quality will not have been monitored in recent weeks so there is risk of illness
- While the weather has been good over the past few weeks, the temperature of the water remains cold. Cold water shock is real and wetsuits do not prevent it
- We must continue to support our frontline key workers by not making any unnecessary trips to pursue outdoor activities
We do recognise the importance of sport in people’s lives and the desire to get back to some sort of normality, and while we welcome the news about the easing of some restrictions, the default message remains that we should stay at home as much as possible for the time being, and not put any undue risk and pressure on the NHS and Emergency Services.
