Meet the open water swimmers who feel the positive link between exercise and emotion

Open water swimmers have long enjoyed the positive link between exercise and emotion, writes Clodagh Finn

What is it about the invigorating experience of swimming in open water that makes us wax lyrical?

Ruth Fitzmaurice evoked the steadying power of the sea in breath-taking prose when she wrote about finding solace in the freezing waters of Women’s Cove in Greystones, Co Wicklow, then emerging from the waves to share a thermos by tea with fellow members of the so-called Tragic Wives Swimming Club.