Why I love winter swimming

Singing the Hymn of Winter Swimmers

Why I love winter swimming? Because in our country – Slovakia -  it has extraordinary origins and form. Official date of birth of the institutional winter swimming in Slovakia is January 2000  when was set up the first winter swimming sports club  in Bratislava. We used to swim in various locations in western and later also in the central and northern Slovakia. It was always a local event organized in cooperation with the local authorities, with the major of the town or village and usually with a large audience of curious local inhabitants watching. We were a sort of a „flying (or rather a swimming) circus“ and as a result winter swimming became very popular in Slovakia. But since in our country during centuries people kept singing while woking or relaxing, we felt something was missing during opening ceremonies of our  public swimms. And that is why the oldest Slovak winter swimmer Mr. Karol Kevan (born 1925) asked the very popular opera singer and and at the same time winter swimmer Martin Babjak to write some song for us, winter swimmers! Martin did his best and at the first gathering of winter swimmers in the 2004/2005 season he brought the lyrics of the Hymn of Winter Swimmers and taught us how to sing it. Since then we usually sing it before swimming in the cold water. The last time we sang our Hymn of Winter Swimmers during the Christmas, in the morning of 24th December 2009, before swimming in the lake Draždiak in Bratislava – see enclosed photo (with the floating Christmas tree behind the swimmers). This Hymn was published also on the commercial CD and it is also translated to English. Original facsimile of this song  you can find on this web-link. For sure, we will sing our Hymn of Winter Swimmers also in Bled – so please learn the melody and join us - participants of IWSC - if you will! 

Cold water attracts me since I walked with my boyfriend, who is still my husband in the Alps in France. After a day walking, looking for a camp spot, we always choose a lake for our private camp. The little lakes were cold but beautiful when you camp on 2000 meter. The lower you camp, the warmer the lake. The higher you camp the more beautiful the view. We walked with a backpack and camped in the wild.

Once when ice-skating on the Baltic Sea around Stockholm with a friend, I had my fist ice-dip after the sauna. An exiting experience. We were called "wakmeisjes". A "wak" is a hole in the ice. Then I was sold. The cold-water experience is like jumping from 10 meters high in a swimming pool. Every time again the question myself: "Do I dare it or not"?
Now I am trained and I know that I can swim in so cold water. I am hooked on swimming on beautiful spots. The people who swim are relaxed, they know how to improvise and don't take themselves too serious and have fun.
I am looking forward to compete and party with the ones I met last year in Imatra and Leikanger.

Els Wermenbol

Mariia Yrjö-Koskinen, president of International Winter Swimming association has visited Bled. During the her visit Mariia went swimming in the lake twice! On beautiful morning, amazing surrounding and white patches of snow the swimming was amazing.

See her swim here.

The hottest swim this winter

Let's get some things straight... yes, people say we're crazy, yes it's cold and yes, we really love it!
 

I started cold water swimming after being invited to join the British Antarctic Swimming Expedition with Lewis Gordon Pugh in 2005. After swimming amid icebergs, penguins and elephant seals, I was hooked.

That is what makes winter swimming so great, locations for cold water swimming are among the most beautiful in the world. Lake Bled in Slovenia, the location of this year's World Winter Swimming Championships, is no exception.

Not just for a hardy few

After returning from Antarctica, I soon discovered that cold water swimming was not something just a hardy few were doing; there were actually thousands of cold water swimmers out there. Furthermore, winter swimming events were organised, where likeminded souls could test their skills and remind themselves that they are not the only crazy ones doing it.

My first winter swimming event was the Cold Water Championships at Tooting Bec Lido in London. That was where I first met the now IWSA President, Mariia Yrjö Koskinen, from Finland. Our story began there and then. At the time, Mariia was organising the World Championships in Oulu, Finland and I was planning the 2nd Sognefjord Swim Festival in Norway. Before I knew it, I was on a plane to Oulu, about to give a presentation on fjord swimming  to a packed university auditorium and swim in zero degree water for Norway. I have never looked back since.

Exotic getaway

This year, six members from Sogn Fjord Swimming Club are heading south from Norway to Slovenia. With its own fairytale castle, picturesque lake and excellent spa-hotels, the small town of Bled is a fantastic travel destination. The championships provide the perfect excuse to enjoy an exotic getaway break.

Our group is not only looking forward to the challenge of bracing the cold waters of the beautiful, and preferably icy, Lake Bled, but also to meeting up with hundreds of smiling winter swimmers from all over the world. Most people can manage the 25 metre and 50 metre swimming distances without any difficulty, especially if you practise a little beforehand. Inspite of feeling at times as though your fingers may have been struck by a sledgehammer, I promise you, the ecstatic smiles that surround you after your swim, not forgetting the super hot saunas, will make it all worthwhile. You will survive, and more so - you will feel absolutely great!

Join in!

So if you are a winter swimmer - or if you just want to have a go at being one - grab the chance and sign up for the hottest swimming show in the world - see you there!

Photo: Terje Eggum

I always wanted to be a pioneer swimmer - to swim in places where nobody had swum before. Much of my inspiration came from explorers like Raold Amundsen, Robert Scott, and Edmund
Hillary. Twenty years on, and I have now pioneered more swims around famous landmarks than any other swimmer in history, and I am the only person to have completed a long distance swim in
every ocean of the world. But I'm probably best known for becoming the first person to undertake a long distance swim at the North Pole.

I am passionate about swimming and I enjoy pushing boundaries. But there's a lot more to it than that. Through my swims I have had a unique perspective on climate change. I have witnessed retreating glaciers, decreasing sea ice, coral bleaching, severe droughts, and the migration of animals to colder climates. It's as a result of these experiences that I am determined to do my bit to raise awareness about the fragility of our environment and to encourage everyone to take action.

I studied law at the University of Cape Town and the University of Cambridge, and then went on to work as a maritime lawyer in London. I now spend much of my time public speaking and lobbying world leaders to protect the environment.

My first experiece of World Winter Swimming Championships was in Oulu, Finland in 2006 where I won the gold medal in the 500 meter freestyle. The water was minus 0.5°C (31F)! To prepare the pool the organisers cut a 25 meter pool in the sea-ice, placed lane ropes in it, and constantly blasted the surface with water to keep it from freezing over. It was a surreal scene! I am also the founding member of The International Winter Swimming Association. I encourage everyone who loves swimming outdoors to go to the next WORLD Winter Swimming Championships 2010 in Bled, Slovenia.

It will be FANTASTIC - great people, great vibe, just a weekend of amazing fun!!!

Best wishes

Lewis Gordon Pugh
Enviromentalist - Explorer - Swimmer

"Swimming in the World Winter Swimming Championships is the ‘must do’ event for all swimmers interested in cold water swimming – it’s not to be missed! I swam in the Finnish Championships in 2007 – the pool was cut out of a frozen lake, I couldn’t believe it when I got there, but the excitement of a lovely and warm traditional sauna afterwards was enough to entice me into the icy waters. Lake Bled I’m sure will be another fantastic event!  The last WWSC in 2008 were hosted by our club South London Swimming Club at our home pool the Tooting Bec Lido– if you were there you would know what a brilliant experience that was! For me it was all about the wonderful swimmers we hosted from all around the world who had one goal in mind - to enjoy ourselves in the icy cold water! We are sending a team of swimmers to take part in the festivities, races and winter life in Slovenia – we hope you will be there too to enjoy the fun this time round with us all"
 
Nancy Shaw
SLSC Captain, from Tooting Bec Lido, London, UK

My name is Aleksandrs Jakovlevs, 40 years old. I'm from club " Jelgavas Roni ", Latvia.
12 years in winter swimming are always emotional at high positive level. The spirit of competition which for the first time I have tested in the World Championship in Oulu, Finland in 2006, is transfering from year to year. Cold winter swimming is an impulse full of colors, incomparable with what another.
* Refresh your mind and body in winter swimming! -it's healthy *