Colin Hill
From Openwaterpedia
Hill was also the Marathon Swimming Technical Operations Manager for the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games at the 2012 London Olympic Games. The Olympic 10K Marathon Swim showcased the sport of open water swimming like never before.
He is also a regular contributor to H2Open Magazine and appears frequently on British television programmes and practices extreme swimming in Windermere and Red Tarn in the English Lake District throughout the winter.
Hill has set up Chillswim and organized the Big Chill Swim in Windermere in the Lake District of England on 2 February 2013 where extreme swimmers can take part in the 30m breaststroke event, 60m freestyle event, 4 x 30m team relay and 450m endurance swim. He also completed an ice swim in Windermere on 6 February 2013 and organzined the Chillswim Coniston - 5.25 miles End to End
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Awards and Honors
Hill received the Open Water Ambassador of the Year award at the 2012 H2Open Awards organized by H2Open Magazine, an award designed to celebrate achievement in open water swimming. He was recognized for his work to bring Olympic 10km Marathon Swim to London and for raising the profile of open water swimming through television and other media.
He was recognized and honored at the 2012 Global Open Water Swimming Conference and the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame induction ceremonies on the RMS Queen Mary on 22 September 2012 in Long Beach, California. He is also tied for #25 on the global ranking of the Oceans Seven challenge.
He is also nominated for the 2012 World Open Water Swimming Man of the Year.
Swimming Career
He also is as passionate about taking part in open water swimming as he is for organising events. On 28 September 2009, he completed the English Channel solo in 10 hours 30 minutes. His other swims of note include:
- Windermere, UK two way (21 miles)- 10 hours 30 mins
- Winter Swimming World Championships, Latvia 2012 - World Age Group Champion, 'Endurance Swim' 450m
- Hellespont Race (200th anniversary Swim of Lord Byron's Crossing) - Asia to Europe (Turkey) 5km - first place
- Strait of Messina (Sicily to Italy)
- Distance Swim Challenge (Long Beach California, USA) 12.7 miles
- Setubal Bay, Portugal 2km race (Age group champion)
- Loch Earne, Ireland, 6 person relay 48 miles
- Strait of Gibraltar (Europe to Africa) - 3 hours 40 minutes 7 October 2011
- Winter Swimming World Championship (Latvia 2012) - World Age Group Champion for 450m endurance swim
2012 World Open Water Swimming Man of the Year Nomination
Hill was nominated for the 2012 World Open Water Swimming Man of the Year award. His World Open Water Swimming Association nomination reads,
When so many things could go wrong at the Olympic 10K Marathon Swim, everything went absolutely right in London. Colin Hill orchestrated the greatest open water swimming extravaganza in history. The ultimate organiser showcased the sport in a way that will be difficult to top. The weather was perfect. The races were compelling. The timing system and equipment was customized and color-coordinated. The venue was packed, the course was compact, the buoys were beautiful, and the ambiance could not have been better. The global TV and online audience were treated to outstanding aerial footage in a real-time broadcast. The officiating was spot-on and there were no controversies or interruptions. From the world’s greatest open water series to the world’s greatest open water swimming event, the British visionary has raised the bar so high in the sport that others may take decades to catch up. For his sense of showmanship, for his precise execution of Olympic plans, for his delivery of an exemplary product on the world’s most visible stage, Colin Hill is a worthy nominee for the 2012 WOWSA Open Water Swimming Man of the Year.
In The English Channel
Colin Hill Talks About Safety And The Allure Of Wild Swimming
UK comedy show Harry Hill
Bering Strait Swim
Hill will also be a member of the Bering Strait Swim, a 53-mile (86 km) relay swim attempt from Cape Dezhnev in Chukotka, Russia, to Cape Prince of Wales in the state of Alaska, USA among a team of experienced extreme swimmers.
1. Yuri Tsiganchuk, Blagoveshchensk, Russia
2. Yuri Myagkikh, Russia
3. Vladimir Chegorin, Russia
4. Maria Chizhova, Novosibirsk, Russia
5. Elena Guseva, Russia
6. Kieron Palframan, Cape Town, South Africa
7. Ram Barkai, Cape Town, South Africa
8. Jack Bright, UK
9. Vladimir Litvinov, Blagoveshchensk, Russia
10. Oksana Veklich, Blagoveshchensk, Russia
11. Aleksandr Jakovlev, Jelgava, Latvia
12. Matías Ola, Buenos Aires /Tucuman Argentina
13. Henri Kaarma, Tallinn, Estonia
14. Toomas Haggi, Tallinn, Estonia
15. Nuala Moore, Ireland
16. Anne Marie Ward, Donegal, Ireland
17. Claudia Rose, San Diego, USA
18. Toks Viviers, Cape Town, South Africa
19. Melissa O’Reilly (‘Mo’), Lambertville, New Jersey, USA
20. Ryan Stramrood, Cape Town, South Africa
21. Colin Hill, Ambleside, UK
22. Cristian Vergara, Santiago, Chile
23. Lelané Rossouw-Bancroft, Newark, Delaware, USA
24. Rafał Ziobro, Krakow, Poland
25. Andrew Chin, Cape Town, South Africa
26. Jackie Cobell, Tunbridge Wells, UK
27. Paul Duffield, West Kelowna, BC, Canada
Video
External links
- International Relay Swim Across The Bering Strait Official Website
- Bering Strait Swim
- Bering Strait Swim - Ice Bering
- Colin Hills Talks Open Water
- Great Swim website
- Colin Hill Is In Cold Water
- Great Swim
- 2012 London Olympic Games website
- Open Water Swimming website
- Outdoor Swimming Society website
- H2Open Magazine website
- World Open Water Swimming Association
- Colin Hill, Olympic Showman
- Marathon Swimming
- Chilling Out In A Glacial Groove
- The Colors Of Open Water Swimming
- Big Chill Inspires
- Turning Blue In The Cold Water
- Ice Swimming With Snow On The Mountain Tops
- 30 Open Water Swimmers Known By One Name
- 10 Top Young Open Water Swimmers Of The 21st Century
- Hill's Getting Chills Thinking About Coniston End To End
- The Who's Who Of Extremists Gather At Top Of World
- Do Ice Swimmers Have Bigger Brains?
- Ice Swimming Among Three Sisters In The Wilderness
