Renowned Eden ice swimmer Colin Hill has been invited to take his place in his sport’s hall of fame.
Colin, who lives at Howtown, has been elected an honour contributor by the Ice Swimming Hall of Fame in the class of 2023 for his contributions and promotion of cold water swimming around the world.
Since 2008, Colin has actively participated as a cold water swimmer, organiser, and administrator. As a contributor he has over 10 years of experience including serving on the board of directors for the International Winter Swimming Association; being technical director for the 2012 London Olympics open water swimming; and a FINA open water consultant.
He is the owner and director of Ullswater Swim Place and was the founder of the Big Chill Swim, one of the first events to establish winter swimming in the UK.
As a swimmer he was the first UK male to swim an International Ice Swimming Association ice mile (one of the fastest in history at that time) and for the past 15 years he has been a medallist in many events, including taking first place in the endurance swim at the IWSA World Championships in Latvia.
Colin said: “It’s an incredible honour to be inducted into the Ice Swimming Hall of Fame. To be recognised by my peers for my contributions to cold water swimming is really exciting news and I’m incredibly honoured.
“My first International Winter Swimming World Championships was in 2008 and I have been passionate about promoting the joys of winter/ice water swimming ever since.
“It’s wonderful that cold water swimming is now more popular than ever before, and living at Ullswater is the perfect location for me to take others into the lake throughout the winter on a daily basis.”