Introducing NZ's new freshwater swim festival

<p><strong>What</strong>: Ignite Freshwater Swim Fest</p><p><strong>Where: </strong>Lake Pupuke / Pupukemoana, Auckland</p><p><strong>When: </strong>February 13–14, 2027</p><p>Scott Rice is back on Swim Chats this month to talk about a brand-new swim event coming next summer: the <a href="https://www.freshwaterswimfest.com/" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">Ignite Freshwater Swim Fest</a>! It will be a fun weekend for the whole family in February, offering a range of swim distances to suit all abilities (250m to 10km), live music, food stalls, the first NZ Doggy Swim Champs (a 100m swim with your pawsome pal), a 4x500m relay, three national swim championships, and much more. </p><p>The event&#39;s charity partner is <a href="https://liveocean.org/" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">Live Ocean</a> and the swim &#39;ambassadors&#39; who will be attending include gold medallist Lewis Clareburt, ultramarathon swimmer Jono Ridler, Auramove&#39;s Laura Quilter, TVNZ&#39;s Wendy Petrie, and former All Black Ian Jones.</p><p>Scott is passionate about running safe, inclusive, and feel-good events that, as he puts it, are a &quot;celebration of swimming&quot;. He founded the NZ Ocean Swim Series, and now runs the <a href="https://manuworldchamps.com/" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">Z Manu World Champs</a> and <a href="https://oceanswimfiji.com/" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">Ocean Swim Fiji</a>.</p><p>Learn more about the swim festival and get your earlybird entries via the <a href="https://www.freshwaterswimfest.com/" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">Ignite Freshwater Swim Fest</a> website.</p><p>*</p><p>Visit <a href="https://stokednz.co.nz/SWIMCHATS" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠StokedNZ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠</a> for your towelies and get 15% off with the discount code SWIMCHATS </p><p>Enjoy the podcast? Buy me a coffee via <a href="https://ko-fi.com/swimchats" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">⁠⁠https://ko-fi.com/swimchats⁠⁠</a></p><p>Become a Swim Buddy via ⁠⁠<a href="https://patreon.com/SwimChats?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLink" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Patreon.com/SwimChats⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠</a></p><p><a href="https://www.instagram.com/swimchats" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Follow Swim Chats on Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠</