Henley Swim - Club to Pub

The start venue for the Club to Pub is Henley Rowing Club. Please aim to arrive at least 75 minutes before your start time, to allow time to register, change, prepare for your swim and be ready for the compulsory safety briefing.

All competitors are required to register with photographic ID. On arrival at the event, please go to the registration area to collect your race pack. Your race number will be allocated at registration. Your pack will contain a hat, timing chip, wrist band and bag tag. Please check the number on your hat matches your timing chip and your bag tag.

To beat the queues you can register any time from 3pm, you can then stay and have a coffee, or head into Henley and return in time to prepare for your wave.

Get changed into your swimming kit. There are both changing rooms and changing tents at the club. Thread the wristband through your timing chip and wear on either wrist, outside your wetsuit.

Pack your bag, making sure to keep out your hat, goggles, flip-flops, named carrier bag and timing chip. Attach the bag tag and take to bag drop. Your bag will stay at the rowing club and can be collected after your swim

ALL BAGS MUST BE COLLECTED FROM BAG DROP BY 9:30PM

You will be able to leave a pair of flip-flops in a plastic bag (provided by yourself) in the buckets at the start. These will be taken to the finish at the pub, and available for you to walk back to the rowing club. If you are swimming without a wetsuit, you will also be able to leave a hoodie in the buckets, but NO CHANGING ROBES PLEASE as they are too bulky to transport. Please pick a distinctive bag, although Sainsbury’s bags are bright, that does not make them stand out from all the other Sainsbury’s bags!

This is compulsory for all swimmers. Waves 1-3 will have a safety briefing at 6:20pm and waves 4-6 at 6:50pm. Wave 1 swimmers and wave 4 swimmers will need to be ready to swim immediately after their briefing.

After the safety briefing you will be invited to walk through an area where your timing chip is registered and then to enter the water. The start is a deep water start, and you will tread water before the start. You can have a short warm-up swim. The start is on an air-horn, if you are a slower or nervous swimmer, please place yourself towards the back. The on-water safety team will oversee your swim to ensure you take the correct course.

Although there are restrictions in place, the river is still open to all traffic. Our safety teams will ensure that swimmers and boats are kept separate, and while we try to avoid it, there may be occasions when the safety team have to ask swimmers to stop, to allow river traffic through. Please follow the instructions given to you by the safety team.

Please be as considerate as possible towards your fellow swimmers. If you are caught by faster swimmers, please move to one side to let them through. If you catch slower swimmers, please don’t swim over the top of them.

When you reach the end you will be helped out of the water, given your medal and a bottle of Brakspear Angel’s Delight. You can collect your flip-flops (and hoodie for non-wetsuit swimmers) and either walk back to Henley Rowing Club (approx 650m) or catch the river taxi. At Henley Rowing Club you can pick up your bag from the bag drop, shower and change, and then head back to the Angel for the BBQ.

Alternatively, you can go straight to the BBQ in your wetsuit, and return to the Rowing Club later. You must collect your bag by 9:30pm and vacate the car park by 10:00pm