ABSTRACT
In 2011, over 10,000 people donned wetsuits and plunged into the waters of Lake Windermere in the English Lake District as part of the Great North Swim, sponsored by British Gas. All of the places available for the competitive long-distance swim were taken within six weeks of the launch (Great Swim 2011), despite (or perhaps because of ) the cancellation of the event the previous year, when the Environment Agency found blue-green algae in the lake water, algae which could be dangerous to human health by causing sickness or skin rashes (BBC 2010).
