Covid: Lowestoft Christmas Day North Sea swim cancelled

The dash into the sea at Lowestoft has been taking place for more than 40 years

A Christmas Day dip which attracts thousands of people has been cancelled due to the increasing Covid cases.

It is the second year running the dash into the sea at Lowestoft, Suffolk, which has been running for more than 40 years, has been cancelled due to the pandemic.

Organisers said "after a lot of hard work" they were "truly gutted that the event cannot go ahead once more".

It was hoped the event would return next year.

The organising team consists of representatives from SLT Group, Lowestoft Volunteer Lifeguard Corps, HM Coastguard, St John Ambulance and Lowestoft Lions Club.

The swim usually takes place on the morning of 25 December on Lowestoft's south beach

Matt Stebbings, event volunteer for SLT, said "As a team we have had many conversations and after looking into the numerous risks involved and the ever-increasing case numbers of Covid-19, we felt the safest thing for the town was to cancel the event once more.

"People's safety at this time of year is paramount and even with restrictions in place, the event would put a large number of people in the same place and the Omicron variant is highly transmissible.

"I would like to thank everyone involved this year including our headline sponsors JME Ltd. The event will be back next year, fingers crossed."

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Those who had already registered have been offered either a refund or asked if they would donate the fee to "allow the charities to benefit from the swim registrations".