A new 5K swim series has started at one of the best lakes I’ve been. Clear blue water, beach entry. Its stunning and worth the trip.
Venue:-
2 Likes
Looks like a nice place, although £30 for an induction before you can use the lake???
1 Like
Pretty common round here unfortunately. Think it’s an insurance / council requirement!
1 Like
Yeah, they’re all like that. I think I’ve shelled out for 3 over the years; leybourne lake, NOWCA, and whatever London Victoria Docks justified a lump sum for.
1 Like
Odd, Ive swam at a few different lakes and never had to pay for an induction. Most you just sign something that says you drown, your tough shit.
2 Likes
Oh and the Chipstead Lake people too.
It’s bullshit. I’ve done 5 Ironman races, worst was 1h18 swim. “But it’s the law” is also bullshit, the law gets changed by organisations working to make things better for their customers, and they cant be bothered.
It’s also not the end of the world though, so I’m not that bothered, it’s just a waste of time and money.
1 Like
Pretty sure NOWCA don’t require an induction. I’ve been swimming at various places run by the founders over the years (inc the Docks) and never done an induction anywhere. Just pay your 12m subscription and that’s it
St.Andrews Lake(The Blue Lake as it was known) is unlike other lakes in as much as it has multi use. Its the cleanest and one of the biggest in the south. It is 40 meters deep and I have personally had to rescue so called ironman swimmers and Leybourne swimmers. It is about awareness and not forgetting the facilities. No other lake as the infrastructure, and the insurance is trough the roof.
I ran races and did inductions at Leybourne for over 20 years and left 6 years ago - where they charged £30 then…
1 Like
Welcome to the forums Mike, yeah I paid £30 there I think. Nothing wrong with the induction, just having to do them for every location/organisation. Although they don’t do them at the races do they 
Thanks Joex
I used to run all those events through Team Outrageous, which I own. I do get the point about inductions but everyone is different.
I will be putting on triathlon, swim/run events and more 5 K swim races next year.
I will be sitting down with the owners of the lake ( not the water sports owners) next month to fix a calendar for 2022. I will post it here.
In the meantime, if you want to come and see what we have here, private message me and I will arrange for you, gratis.
Mike
7 Likes
I used to swim at Mytchet Quays nr Frimley. It’s been a few years since I’ve been there but there was no induction fee back then, not sure about now.
More recently I’ve swam at Lakeside at Eastleigh (which has extremely good changing and shower facilities) and no induction there either. I’d never heard heard of it.
The very crappy pool/gym facility where my Mum lives allows casual visits to the gym (used to be £5 a time) but insist on a £25 induction fee, which I’ve never bothered with. That was the first time I’d heard of such a thing.
Theres a new man made lake in Beckenham Place Park, opened last summer when it was hot, within a couple of days they’d had to rescue a kid and get the air ambulance in. They’ve had to tighten everything up now, to the point it pay to use and there’s a nasty looking large metal fence (the type you get around building sites) to stop unauthorised access. Whilst I have inductions for a number of lakes now (and never use them) I’m in favour, if only it saves one life. Not everyone is sensible and we are a different level on here so may struggle to understand. Some people have no healthy appreciation of the dangers of the water. Even for racing, there was a drowning at Leybourne just a few years ago with a novice first time triathlete wearing a shorty wetsuit. I wonder if he’d be made to gain more experience if that life would have been saved? I’ve always been a fan of things like having proof of experience before being allowed to enter an Ironman or half etc with what’s been going on in the sport in recent years as well but that’s another discussion.
2 Likes
I don’t on the whole disagree H, but there’s different ways to go about it. The first ever OW swim I did, the organiser of the venue just got one of the kayaks to paddle around near me for my first loop to make sure I knew what I was doing. Had he said I needed to pay an extra fiver or tenner for that, to cover the effective 1:1 coverage, then fair enough. But the style of induction where you need to book a specific lengthy slot at a specified time is just a major barrier to entry.
There needs to be some level of appreciation for prior experience, however you go about it. I have the same criticisms with my club for road riding. They insist on an induction to join group rides, which is absolutely fine in principle as you don’t want newbies to be unsafe and bring others down (although they don’t hold them very often), but there is zero leeway for uber-experienced cyclists. You could have Cav try and turn up to a group ride and I’m sure some of the guys would just say “have you done you club induction yet?”
2 Likes