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The first World Ice Swimming Championships

In March this year, Winchester City Penguins SC Masters swimmer Rory Fitzgerald travelled out to Russia to compete at the first World Ice Swimming Championships and the Russian Winter Swimming Champs. He sent in a couple of blogs to fill the UK Masters community in on his experience…

The 1km Ice Swimming Event

In 2014, International Ice Swimming Association (IISA) introduced the 1km ice swimming event.

This event allows for swimmers to compete in icy waters of 5C or less. And the IISA aims to keep world records to support its vision to include ice swimming as a category in the Winter Olympic Games.

Later in 2014, the IISA announced the first World Ice Swimming Championships to be hosted by the city of Murmansk, inside the Arctic circle in the far North West of Russia in March 2015. The event was timed to coincide with the 10th Russian Winter Swimming Championships which were also due to be hosted at the same venue.

Fifty accomplished ice swimmers were invited to take part in the championship. Approximately half were invited from the host country, Russia, and the rest represented countries from Australia to Zimbabwe. Two swimmers would represent the UK.

GB world ice swimming championships

My place on the team was confirmed in January so I had 10 weeks to prepare for this challenging event. I had earned my place through a variety of cold and open water swims. But I knew this would be much harder than anything I had experienced before.

Cold water training involved regular swims in local rivers (the Itchen, Hamble and Avon) and the sea. I took the opportunity to visit North Wales for a week of swimming in icy lakes high in Snowdonia along with my British teammate Kate Steels-Fryatt who swims for Eastleigh Swim Club.

Bread, salt and the Northern Lights

Kate even managed to procure a huge supply of ice so that we could take ‘ice baths’ as part of our training. Our cold tolerance steadily improved.

We were welcomed by a party of Russian ladies in traditional costume offering bread and salt.

We travelled to Murmansk on 18 March to give ourselves a day to acclimatise. Arriving at 2:00am, we were treated to a spectacular display of the Northern Lights as we were welcomed to Murmansk by a party of Russian ladies in traditional costume offering bread and salt.

The following morning a group of us were taken to Semyonovskoye Lake, the venue for the competition, to test the water. It was breathtakingly cold!

On the morning of the competition all swimmers were required to undergo a full medical examination including an ECG. Everyone was allocated to a specific ‘heat’ based on a rough estimate of anticipated speed.

I was drawn in lane 4 of heat 7 along with three South African swimmers, a Czech and a Russian.

The Olympic-style opening ceremony

The competition began with an Olympic-style opening ceremony with speeches and entertainment and the competitors being led down to the ice pool behind their national flags.

There was a light breeze and some cloud cover and overnight snow had left the venue sparkling and white. The pool had a covering of ice which was quickly cleared and the first heat made ready to swim.

My heat was due to start at 3:00pm which gave me time to watch a couple of the earlier heats and the solar eclipse which reduced the air temperature by a couple of degrees. It was soon time to submit myself to the medical check and present myself in the marshalling area.

I was worried I wouldn’t be able to stay in the water long enough to complete the distance. But I rationalized that, at 0.8 degrees, there would be no shame in retiring early. The swim itself would be okay, but the recovery was likely to be uncomfortable.

My mouth was dry with fear as we were led out onto the poolside to take up position.

Around 10 minutes before the start of my race, I, along with the others in my heat, was escorted down to the lake and to a changing tent erected on the ice.

Instructions were given in Russian and we all looked to the single Russian competitor in our heat for a lead as we donned hats, goggles and earplugs.

Mouth dry with fear

My mouth was dry with fear as we were led out onto the poolside to take up position at the end of our allocated lanes. Swimmers were announced to the spectators and the starter blew a whistle to indicate that we should disrobe.

A moment later we were instructed to enter the water and submerge our shoulders. There was a moment of gasping as we all adjusted to the ice water and an interminable wait until the starter sounded the horn. We were off.

Ordinarily I would take a few moments in icy water before putting my head down and swimming crawl. But not on this occasion!

I could see that the South Africans on either side of me had gone off very fast and were already several yards in front of me. I tried to find a good rhythm and my pace settled down. But I still had no confidence that I could complete the distance, let alone win the race.

Closing in on the finish

However, after just four lengths (100m), I realised I was gaining on one of the South Africans. I moved into second place a couple of lengths later. At 20 lengths – half way – my hands and feet had lost all feeling but I otherwise felt okay. I was perhaps 10m behind the lead swimmer and he wasn’t extending this lead.

Despite my earplugs I could hear shouts of encouragement which seemed to get louder with each length. The tally boards at the end of the pool came down steadily and, with ten lengths to go, I felt for the first time that I might finish. A finish would give me an English record as none had yet been established! If I could better 15:20.00, I could take the British record.

The cheering from the poolside rose in volume and I saw I was closing the gap on the lead swimmer. That realisation gave me a boost and I kicked harder, willing myself to go faster. With four lengths to go I was on his toes and a well-executed turn brought me up beside him. We were neck and neck going into the last 50 meters and I started to pull away as we tore down the penultimate length.

All thoughts of abandoning the race were gone and replaced with the adrenaline pumping desire to win. The last length was a blur of foam and icy spray as I thrashed towards the finish. I slapped the end with numb hands, almost five seconds ahead of my rival.

World Ice Swimming Champs sprint finish

People were on hand to help me from the water and rush me into an assessment tent where I was seen by a doctor.

Once satisfied that I wasn’t in any imminent danger of collapse, he released me to two large paramedics who half-carried me off the lake to the recovery suite in the main building some 150 yards away.

Recovery was rapid but painful

Once inside, my hands and feet were placed in bowls of cool water whilst very hot, wet towels were wrapped around my shoulders, lower back and thighs. These were replaced every few seconds until I started to regain some feeling in my hands and feet.

Recovery was rapid if a little painful. I was then ushered into a blissfully hot sauna and was joined after a few moments by my fellow swimmers. The post-swimming euphoria was contagious and soon everyone was joking and laughing and recovery was complete!

My time of 14:22.92 placed me fourth man overall in the competition and earned me the British record together with the world record for the 50+ age category.

Kate’s time of 19:30.74 placed her sixth overall in the women’s event and gave her the English record and the world record in the 45+ age category.

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