All four events win awards from website for participants’ reviews

An outdoor swimming events company has won four performance awards.

Four events run by Henley Swim were awarded Racecheck Awards which are given to the top-preforming races reviewed on Racecheck, a website for reviewing mass participation sports events.

Henely Swim’s 2023 Thames Marathon, Selkie Henley Classic and Club to Pub events have all been awarded the top Gold Award and the Outdoor Swimmer Henley Swim Festival was awarded a silver.

This is the best set of Racecheck awards the organisation have received.

The review platform invites event participants to rate their experience of an event after taking part. Races qualify for gold, silver and bronze awards by achieving benchmark average ratings from the reviews they receive.

With a Racecheck rating of 4.86 out of five the Thames Marathon also won the ‘best of the best’ Top Rated award for swimming, an award given to the highest awarded event in its sporting category. Only seven organisations have been awarded this across an international field

Operations Manager Juliet Hume said: ‘We hold Racecheck Awards in the highest regard as they are 100% voted for by those that come and swim our events.

“To be told so clearly that our swimmers are enjoying what we do while feeling safe and supported is the very best feeling.

“We aim to make our events fun but challenging, and very much based around the fantastic open water swimming community that we are part of.”

Henley Swim was founded 20 years ago in 2004 when two rowers, Tom Kean and Jeremy Laming decided to swim the Henley Royal Regatta course early one morning before the boats got on the river. Today about 3,000 swimmers take part in the summer events.

The Selkie Henley Classic is the original route Mr Kean and Mr Laming swam on the Henley Royal Regatta course and still starts at around 4am on a Sunday morning.

The Club to Pub is a Saturday night swim starting at The Henley Rowing Club in Wargrave Road to the Angel on the Bridge pub in Henley, where finishers are awarded a beer and bottle-opener medal.

The Thames Marathon is a longer swim following a stretch of the Thames from Henley to Marlow with 13km and 5.5km options. The Outdoor Swimmer Henley Swim Festival is a weekend camping event on the riverbank opposite Temple Island with a range of swimming events, camping, and food and drink.