Surfers Against Sewage<\/a> this year, who are calling for radical reform in the water industry.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n\n ![]()
There were some weird and wonderful costumes on display (Image: The Argus)\n<\/p>\n
\n This year, The Big Swim also welcomed its first-ever wheelchair and adaptive swimmers.\n<\/p>\n
\n Sophie Etheridge was one of those adaptive swimmers, having been invited down from Cambridgeshire to take part.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cSwimming is a laugh, but it\u2019s also freedom\u201d, Sophie said. \u201cMy legs don\u2019t work very well. But when I\u2019m in the water, I can move freely. It\u2019s freedom, basically.\u201d\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n ![]()
Adaptive athlete Sophie Etheridge, who holds three swimming world records (Image: The Argus)\n<\/p>\n
\n Participants were encouraged to wear \u201csparkly\u201d outfits, and they did not disappoint, entering the waters in all manner of eye-catching suits.\n<\/p>\n
\n There were plenty of sequins, but also no shortage of flamingos, while others dressed as poos in playful protest against water pollution.\n<\/p>\n
\n ![]()
It was an undeniably joyous event (Image: The Argus)\n<\/p>\n
\n Local painter Debbie Lawrence was on the beach with her easel\u00a0to capture the occasion on an appropriately pink canvas.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cI try to paint as many people as I can\u201d, Debbie said, \u201cbut it\u2019s pretty difficult. I wish they would all just stand still!\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n ![]()
Brighton artist Debbie Lawrence was there to paint proceedings (Image: The Argus)\n<\/p>\n
\n There had been some concerns beforehand that windy weather could scupper the swim, but a more splendid afternoon could not have presented itself, with the spring sunshine beating down on the becalmed sea.\n<\/p>\n
\n Event organiser Nicky Chisholm said she had spent the previous week \u201cobsessed with sewage, water pollution, wind, and rain\u201d, but was chuffed\u00a0with the \u201cperfect\u201d conditions on the day\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cI\u2019m absolutely delighted\u201d, she said.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s a bit feral out here, but it\u2019s beautiful, it\u2019s sparkly. There\u2019s a lot of energy – and a lot of love as well.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Five hundred women took part in The Big Swim today on Brighton beach, marking International Women\u2019s Day, which…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":476059,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-476058","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476058","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=476058"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476058\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/476059"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=476058"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=476058"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=476058"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}