Downtown Toronto Swim Club
One of the best decisions I made back in 2012 was joining the Downtown Toronto Swim Club. The club was extremely welcoming to me as a new member and someone who hadn’t swum regularly in years. I quickly built up my endurance and picked up a ton of tips on improving my stroke from the coaches. If you’re looking for a swim club in Toronto, I recommend the DSC without hesitation.
Swimming became even more important to me after ankle fusion surgery in 2023. It’s the one activity my fused ankle has had zero impact on — my kick is completely unaffected — and it’s now my primary form of exercise.
Toronto Island Lake Swim
Update: The Toronto Island Lake Swim stopped in 2018 and shows no signs of coming back.
Once I started swimming regularly I decided to enter the Toronto Island Lake Swim. It’s a race off Toronto Island with several distances along the southern edge. I had some concerns about swimming in Lake Ontario, but several DSC members swam off the beaches regularly and put my worries to rest. I really enjoyed the race and swimming 1.5K in open water feels about right for me.
My swim times
| Year | Distance | Time |
| 2013 | 1.5K | 39m 25s |
| 2016 | 1.5K | 50m 16s |
| 2018 | 1.5K | 48m 28s |
Polar Bear Dip
In 2016, I did the Toronto Polar Bear Dip on New Year’s Day. I went with my family and kept a big robe on until it was almost time to go in. I filed this under swimming but it doesn’t really involve much actual swimming. If you’ve never done the dip, it’s essentially a painfully slow march into the water until you’re deep enough and clear of the 200 other people going in at the same time. Once you’ve done your dip, it’s another slow march back out through the crowd. Then you need to get warm and dry fast. There are no changing facilities, so we made a beeline for the car and sorted ourselves out there.