At the finish
After such superb “almost winter like” conditions at Jihlava last week we were treated to a nice break as the competition reverted to pleasant autumnal swimming with an air temperature of 15c and water at 9c. However, for those of you who don’t know much about this sport I can tell you that swimming for around 15minutes in 9c water at this time of year whilst not at all painful certainly induces plenty of shivering shortly after exiting the water and a thirst for hot sweet tea, preferably with plenty of ginger!
The first 1km (or maybe 1.1k?)race of the season produced slow times with Vaclav Mihola of Fides Brno holding off Milan Stencl of PK Zabreh by just 10 seconds to win in 17m 49 with Denisa Haltmarova also of PK Zabreh just a further 1 second behind taking 3 place in the race but the first woman by some 2m 20. It is difficult to say but in another 500m maybe Haltmarova could have won as she was in around fith place after a circuit but relentlessly made up ground in the latter stages of the race and surely she must have had the fastest split for the second half of the contest. English channel aspirant Lenka Pacakova of Fides Brno was the second woman home and the 10th overall after suffering a few kicks along the way, unfortunate but no doubt if Jan Vana was the “kicker” then it was good training in the case of a collision with a vessel in the channel ! Unlikely of course (in fact it has never happened) but the French coastguard has recently suggested that channel swimming should be banned because of such risks!
www.video4net.eu capture the action
After such a strongly contested 1km the 750m still had 33 contestants although it lacked the strength in depth of the longer race with the best swimmers attracted to the 1km due to the larger amount of points to be won. Points are prescious with the ongoing Czech cup sometimes decided by just a small margin come the end of the season. Anyway in a weaker race quality wise it was a good opportunity for some of those swimmers who can’t quite match the elite for speed. The lead changed hands several times in an exciting first 2 laps but by the final lap Milan Kyr of Hana and Iva Kourilova had broken free. Kyr maintained his advantage all the way to the finish winning in 17m28 with the first 2 some 45 seconds ahead of the Englishman Jack Bright who just held on for third place.
Two more shorter races later and the action was finished for another week. Already the weather has worsened and the hope is that the Fojtka reservoir near Liberec which has a reputation for cold water at an early stage of the season won’t dissapoint.
man and nature enjoying the water
That’s Also great, when it comes in india hope it could make a Rocking place for youngster.. hope that
come true.