Lincolnshire clinicians Nicola Housam and Frances Mills return home from Winter Swimming World Championships in Estonia with world record

Two hospital clinicians have returned from a championship competition with a world record.

Nicola Housam, an advanced clinical practitioner in dermatology, and Frances Mills, a specialist family practitioner, competed in the Winter Swimming World Championships in Estonia last month.

In waters with temperatures as low as 0.5 degrees, the pair who work for the United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust, took part in the front crawl relay alongside 805 other swimmers, securing a world record for the largest-ever winter swimming relay, which lasted more than seven hours.

Nicola said: “We had an amazing time. The cold water seemed to make everyone closer. The adrenaline kept us going.”

Frances added: “The colder the water, the deeper the friendship.”

Each also entered into the breaststroke, where Nicola placed 16th for 25m, and Frances placed 11th for 50m.

As founders of the Boston Bluetits Swimming Club, they were part of a team of Bluetits from all over the world who travelled together for the event.

More than 40 countries took part, and Nicola said Estonia welcomed them with open arms, so much so that now the duo are planning a trip to the next competition in Finland in 2026.

“Our Bluetit team of over 60 from around the world has done the community proud. We were ‘rent a crowd’ for countries that had small support, we cheered on everyone taking part – from the elite crews to the give-it-a-go crews. The atmosphere was amazing,” she said.