Virtual Event: Meet Katie Pumphrey - Artist and Ultramarathon Swimmer

Meet Katie Pumphrey

Please join us at our next Virtual Event to explore the links between swimming, art and the environment.

How does outdoor swimming adventure inspire Katie Pumphrey's paintings, sculptures and installations? And if we flip that around, how does being an artist support Katie's long-distance swimming and the fight for cleaner water to swim in?

We will talk endurance swimming, creative arts, swimmable cities and much more in a one-hour Zoom call with Katie - and we'd love for you to join us and bring along your own questions.

As usual, places are limited. Reserve yours now.

This event is free to Outdoor Swimmer magazine subscribers. Please look out for an email with your discount code. Non-subscribers are welcome to join us for £15.

Who is Katie?

Katie Pumphrey (b.1987) is an American interdisciplinary artist and ultramarathon open water swimmer.

On 25 June 2024, Katie Pumphrey became the first person to complete the “Bay to Baltimore” swim, a 24-mile swim from the Chesapeake Bay Bridge to Baltimore’s Inner Harbour. Pumphrey’s history-making Bay to Baltimore swim in support and celebration for the decades-long clean-up efforts to make the Baltimore Harbour swimmable and a safe recreational resource for the city.

Pumphrey continues to be involved in these efforts, recently founding the nonprofit Baltimore Open Water Swimmers (BOWS) and speaking at the Swimmable Cities Summit in Rotterdam, Netherlands. Pumphrey recently joined as a signatory to the Swimmable Cities Charter, and now serves as a Swimmable Cities Ambassador.

Other notable swims include three English Channel crossings (2015, 2022, 2025), as well as around the island of Manhattan (2017) and the Catalina Channel (2018, 2024)— those three swims make up the Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming. Pumphrey was the 194th person (73rd woman) in the world to achieve that honour.

The event will be hosted by Simon and Rowan from the Outdoor Swimmer team.

Simon Griffiths is the founder of Outdoor Swimmer magazine, the author of Swim Wild and Free: A Practical Guide to Swimming Outdoors 365 Days a Year and the creator of the Renaissance Swimmer project. He is a lifelong swimmer, swims year-round in the Thames and regularly takes part in open water and pool races. His swimming adventures have taken him around the world. He was also part of the team that created the STA Open Water Swimming Coaching qualification. His mission is to help as many people as possible discover the joys and benefits of swimming in natural waters.

Rowan Clarke is Outdoor Swimmer's lead feature writer and marketeer. A lifelong outdoor swimmer, she swims all year in Clevedon, North Somerset. She swims slow and steady distances, and takes part in ice swimming competitions where she's proud to have only won medals for fancy dress. An open water swimming coach since 2018, Rowan's passionate about wellbeing, inclusion and making outdoor swimming more accessible for more people.