Ignite Freshwater Swim Fest, live.

Open water swimming in a crater lake

Ignite Freshwater Swim Fest is a two day open water swimming festival at Sylvan Park on Pupukemoana, Lake Pupuke, in Auckland on 13 and 14 February 2027.

The festival is new for 2027 and comes from the founders of the NZ Ocean Swim Series. Lake Pupuke is a volcanic crater lake with no inlet or outlet streams, and the swims run in calm fresh water close to the city.

Saturday starts with the 7.5 km and 10 km at 8:30am, followed by the 2.5 km at 1:45pm, the biggest field of the weekend with prize money for the top three women and men. Sunday has the 5 km at 10am and the 250 m, 500 m and 1000 m in the afternoon, plus a 4 x 500 m relay and the NZ Doggy Swim Champs.

The weekend hosts the NZ Open Water Swimming Championships over 2.5, 5, 7.5 and 10 km, the Secondary Schools championships and the Masters titles, and the NZ Open and Masters championship swims are without wetsuits. For recreational swimmers wetsuits are optional, so the shorter distances suit first timers and families, with ages from 8 upwards on the 250 m and 500 m.

Surf Life Saving New Zealand runs water safety. Parking near Sylvan Park is very limited, so the organiser suggests the 82 bus to the Kitchener Road stop or parking in Takapuna and walking. The festival village has food trucks, a garden bar and music by the lake.

On Livebib you can follow a participant who chooses to share their own live position from the phone they carry on course. That dot on the map is the person's own sharing, not the organiser's timing, and the official results are published by the organiser.