LATEST NEWS JAN 2010 – WORLD WINTER SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS, BLED, SLOVENIA

A nice view of Bled Lido & Lake

It was a fantastic event, certainly heavily influenced by the Finnish with this ritual dipping followed by a swift visit to the sauna.
25m is a very short distance meaning some people swim several times in a day. Its very similar to sauna really but with swimming.
Razzamattaz was the word to describe the opening ceremony, which was colourful, noisy and full of characters from all over the world.
Mariia Yrjo-Koskinen president of the winter swimming association gave a great speech and then she had a quick dip in the lake with the mayor of bled which was a great touch, clearly the locals were pleased to be hosting this event.
The Slovakian polar bears sung a song about winter swimming and generally there was a fantastic atmosphere as the symbolic moomin mascot swum 25m in the care of the young Fin Sakari.
Friday was all fun as you will see when I release the video footage.

But at 18.00 on Friday things got serious as there was a technical meeting for all those winter swimmers taking part in the endurance race.
Put the mouse on REPORTS & then REPORTS JAN 2010 at the top right of the page for the full report or click below http://extremewinterswimming.com/90