Meet the SwimTrek HQ Team
Meet the head office team who create the magic in the background.
Lydia Jordan
Life before SwimTrek
I've been lucky enough to work in jobs that align with my passions. Most recently I have been working in the bicycle industry - working in sales and customer service to logistics. I actually worked for SwimTrek back in 2015 and always hoped I would be back at HQ at some point.
Life at SwimTrek
My role within SwimTrek is Operations Co-Ordinator within the ops team, where we all work together to make it happen and that trips run smoothly.
Most memorable swim moment
More of a swim encounter - while swimming along in Turkey having a squid shoot pass me and left me in a cloud of black ink!
Favourite SwimTrek location or event
Hard one to answer as there are so many fabulous locations but my first one back in 2015 in Kas, Turkey - swimming over Kekova Sunken City, the 5km crossing from Greece to Turkey and lots of encounters with turtles!
Interesting fact about you
I've taken part in a few quirky running marathons - Southend Pier, Shepton Mallet Prison - lots of stairs in that one and Bovington Tank Museum. They all involve a lot of laps to get that marathon distance in. I'm always on the lookout for more to add to the crazy series!
Why I love working at SwimTrek
Being able to combine my passion of swimming and adventure, along with like-minded colleagues makes it a joy to work at SwimTrek HQ. Made even better with lunch time swims which are a brief walk away!
Telle Maukonen
Life before SwimTrek
I was a SwimTrek guest before I joined the Guiding Team. My first SwimTrek trip was to the Greek Cyclades as a guest. Skip to 2013 (via two more SwimTrek Long-Distance Training camps, a Windermere swim, a couple of Channel Relays, and a solo English Channel swim) when I decided to devote my life to swimming and qualified as a swimming teacher and SwimTrek Guide.
Life at SwimTrek
Although I still get to do a bit of guiding, and a bit of coaching at Tooting Bec Lido in London, in my HQ role as Guiding Support Manager, it is my great pleasure to help support and train new and continuing guides before and during their guiding adventures.
Most memorable swim moment
I'm not sure I'll ever have another swim that beats the feeling of relief I got from crawling onto the rocks at Cap Griz Nez, but equally the first island to island crossing in the Greek Cyclades was the one that sparked the whole crazy obsession in the first place, and who can forget that blue water!
Favourite SwimTrek location or event
This is an impossible question. I love swimming the Long Distance Training camps because you don't have to get out of the water for a whole six hours and the water is always nice and 'cool', but I think one of the main reasons I enjoy that so much is because I can draw from the 'bank of great swims' in my mind from all over the world, and those memories help to get me through the tough stuff.
Interesting fact about you
I'm the first Finnish woman to swim the English Channel.
Why I love working at SwimTrek
On my first ever SwimTrek holiday I remember watching the guides at work thinking, "when I grow up, I want to be just like them..." I don't know if I've grown up, but I get to not only be one of them, but to help make more of them! It's people-watching at its absolute best: while watching people swim, you can literally see the transformation happen before your eyes as they relax through the week and often evolve into the very best version of themselves. It's fascinating, entertaining and immensely inspiring.
Nikki Gatland
Life before SwimTrek
Before SwimTrek I was training Police Officers across Surrey and Sussex Police in Use of Force but i would always manage to fit in some water time. Local to the main training centre in Lewes is a magical outdoor pool called Pells, where I would spend many lunch times and evening getting some fresh lengths in. A long time before life at SwimTrek, 10 years in fact, I was actually a SwimTrek Guide! So I guess it was always meant to be.
Life at SwimTrek
I work in the Product team to help turn dreams into a reality.
Most memorable swim moment
Always taking the opportunity to get in the water, I loved swimming in the freezing cold fjords of Norway while the sun was setting into the mountains. Swimming with my sister in one of our first 'big' open water events - 2km Marlow. It was our first venture into a more structure open water activity and we loved it.
Why I love working at SwimTrek
The company has a fantastic culture and ethos and offers both staff and customers something special. The combination of being around all things open water with like-minded people creates an exciting and diverse working day which I love. Plus it's fun to chat swim holidays all day.
Alex McKinnon
Life before SwimTrek
I’ve worked over the world doing several different things, I’ve played rugby in Australia. Did my dive master training in Thailand, been a personal trainer in Dubai, worked on Yachts in Turkey and the Med and to top it off. I also managed to squeeze a couple of ski seasons in Meribel. Soon after heading back to home shores and Brighton where I got a 'proper job' in Sports Nutrition - but travel, sport and water in all its forms is where my passion lies, I wouldn’t have imagined I could combine them all!
Life at SwimTrek
As part of the product team, I help maintain the high standards that we set for our holidays. keeping our guests and suppliers happy with each individual trip we run.
Most memorable swim moment
Competitively I would have to say captaining our school team to a 2nd place at the 4 x 50 freestyle relay at the national schools when I was a wee lad.
Recreationally, after a very memorable dive in Thailand seeing bull sharks, soon after we had taken our gear off someone had sighted a whale shark, so I threw on my mask and fins and swam as fast as I could and managed to see it from the surface!
Favourite SwimTrek location or event
Hawaii has always been a bucket list location for me. You can dive, swim and surf which ticks off three of my favourite things, what more could you want (apart from snow). I’d also love to be able to attend the Triathlon world champs at Kona and the WSL.
Interesting fact about you
One of the few people who can (legally) give you a personal training session, on a boat, Skipper the boat, take you diving and then drive the group up a mountain and then snowboard with them back down.
Why I love working at SwimTrek
I didn’t think my life's experience could ever be combined, it being so varied, but it has all combined into one job, that and the team are the friendliest I’ve ever come across.
Rosie Canby
Life before SwimTrek
I have always loved swimming since learning at my local swimming club as soon as I was old enough. I then got into triathlon and the open water, and worked as a beach lifeguard in Eastbourne for 7 years. Between seasons I went to university in Nottingham where I started lake swimming (being nowhere near the sea), and have done various jobs including a ski season in Canada!
Life at SwimTrek
I started working as a guide in 2021 and I now work at the other end of the chain in the product team, maintaining the quality of our trips.
Most memorable swim moment
Swimming in a glacial lake in the mountains in Canada
Favourite SwimTrek location or event
I am always excited about the next one!
Interesting fact about you
I once lifeguarded mermaids on a film set
Why I love working at SwimTrek
Everyone at SwimTrek puts so much care into creating amazing experiences, it is a joy to be part of. And the lunchtime sea swims are a bonus!
Stuart Reid
Life before SwimTrek
A mixture of jobs in outdoor adventures, in travel, and in tourism. In my younger years I worked as a kayak coach and white-water raft guide. Among other things since then I’ve organised skiing trips, owned a Welsh campsite and managed the commercial elements of an activity tour operator.
Life at SwimTrek
I ensure our amazing SwimTrekkers pay a fair price for their holiday and that all our trips go ahead as full as possible.
Most memorable swim moment.
Swimming alongside a pod of dolphins off the Dalmatian Coast in Croatia.
Favourite SwimTrek location or event
The next one! I’m always looking forward to a future trip.
Interesting fact about you
I once cycled from Land’s End on the Western tip of England to Lithuania in Eastern Europe.
Why I love working at SwimTrek
I get a buzz from working with a cracking team of people who are always excited to be making adventures happen in amazing places. We also work about one minute away from the sea!
Jack Hudson
Life before SwimTrek
First job I worked was as a lifeguard at a water park, wielding a net to pluck suspect items from pools or managing disgruntled slide queues. I’ve stayed close to the water most of my life, which was easy growing up near the Lake District. I’m now based in Sydney (near Bondi Icebergs) and part of a family of swimmers: a Mum who’s in and out of bracing Scottish lochs, a Dad who zips up and down urban pools and two older brothers Robbie and Calum, who I’ve been on various swim adventures with to places like Norway and Croatia (we also spent 9 days swimming the length of our local river).
Life at SwimTrek
I work in the marketing team at SwimTrek. I handle a lot of the content and social channels and will likely try to wrangle my way into as many submerged trips around the world, in whatever capacity possible.
Most memorable swim moment
My brothers and me were the first people to swim across the Moskstraumen, near the Norwegian Lofoten Islands, inside the Arctic Circle. There were long, warbling lion’s mane jellyfish there, tangled up in the deep currents. At one point we passed over an upturned bloom of these jellyfish and I remember looking down as we swam over, a safe few metres above their tentacles – I let out a muffed laugh and took note of what remains a rare and happy memory.
Favourite SwimTrek location or event
Mine is the Hellespont. It’s a chance to take part in a historic swim that brings the world’s busiest shipping channel to a halt for a single, glorious day. Throw in around 800 aquatic Turks and sunlit, lukewarm waters and you’ve got a crossing like no other.
Interesting fact about you
I once got trapped in a whiteout on a glacier in Iceland.
Why I love working at SwimTrek
I’ve always thought everyone should swim outdoors as much as possible. SwimTrek is founded by and built for outdoor swimmers. If ever there was an organisation to promote that idea, this is it.
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