CWSC Best Hat Competition 2021

HATS ON FOR ‘21!

Saturday 30th January 2021 would have been the day of our wonderful Cold Water Swimming Championships with entrants from around the globe, hot tubs, saunas, cheering, bunting, swimming stalls full of lovely swimmy goodies, bespoke beers and tasty hot food trucks. Plus charity jump ins, fancy dress, cups of hot Ribena and so many laughing and smiling faces.

The Champs represent much more than just a swim meet – it’s a chance for our international swimming community to meet our amazing local community, forging friendships for life.

Sadly, for reasons we all understand too well, this famous event cannot go ahead this year. But fear not! One of the much loved highlights of the Champs has been the coveted Best Hat Competition and we would hate for this festival of creativity to go unmarked so we are running our first Virtual Best Hat Competition!

Based on the traditional Head Up Breaststroke race – where hats are encouraged, the fancier the better – the idea is simple:

Create a new hat this January and send in a photo of yourself wearing it, submerged in water up to your shoulders (sea, river, lake, lido, etc). That’s it!

There will be prizes for 1st, 2nd and 3rd and for the specialist categories. The adjudicator will be the usual judges – artist Pip Tunstill and team. There will also be a people’s choice award voted for by you! All winners will be featured on all SLSC social media.

This year’s specialist categories are:

Pre-loved – all recycled materials
Knit one Purl one – knitted or crocheted
Totally Topical
Monumentally Magnificent
Just Plain Silly
Hollywood – old style glamour
Edible – for the bakers out there!

Anyone can enter, you don’t need to be an SLSC member. We can’t wait to see all your creations – email them to besthat@slsc.org.uk by 30th January and we will announce the winners on 14 February.

This year we remember our wonderful friend Chris Stanton who we sadly lost in March last year. He was the compère of the Champs for many years, his banter keeping the crowd laughing while ensuring that the very fast-moving races were on time.

The Lido will be closed in January 2023 so the next UK Cold Water Swimming Championships will be back in January 2025, and we cannot wait!

Virtual Best Hat Competition rules:

  • Entry is FREE and open to all.
  • All hat entries must be home made.
  • Hats must be worn while in water, shoulders under.
  • Photos must be submitted by midnight on 30 January 2021.

Contact besthat@slsc.org.uk

Videos and news reports

Take a look at some of the short films and news reports from previous Cold Water Swimming Championships and more!

CWSC gallery

Take a look at photos from previous years’ champs!

CWSC charities

Crisis, the national charity for single homeless people, dedicated to ending homelessness, will be our charity partner.