Winter swimmers by the Natonal Theatre (photo by Roman Vondrous)
The 64th annual running of the Alfred Nikodem Memorial took place in the Vltava river on the 26th of December 2010 overlooked by such famous landmarks as Charles Bridge, The National Theatre and of course Prague Castle. For this reason, the time of year and the large media interest this is the biggest and most anticipated event of the winter swimming season in the Czech Republic. With the swimmers starting from the Slavsky Ostrov (Slavonic Island) and the main race being twice round a 375m circuit it made for a thrilling spectacle for the crowds who packed the bridges and banks to watch. The air was 6c below zero and the water 2.4c above. If it was thrilling to watch well it was certainly more so to take part as the strong speed of the current round a tight track made for a tricky swim. Indeed 6 swimmers failed to finish the 750m. Milan Stencl of PK zabreh did finish and took first place in a time of 9m 37s. Vaclav Mihola of Fides Brno was back in second for the second year running and he held off another member of PK Zabreh as none other than the 17 year old Denisa Haltmarova claimed third place from Vlastimil Zaoral of Spartak Prerov and another Mihola, Petr, the father of Vaclav and conqueror of the English channel. However, all 28 finishers deserve some recognition given the difficult nature of the course and conditions. In total 189 swimmers took part in the event as there were 100m and a 300m exhibition swims after the main race over 750m.
Denisa Haltmarova (left) & Lenka Sterbova (Photo by Andrea Katonova)
More young people than ever participated including Lenka Sterbova of Pardubice who swam the English channel last year in an incredibly quick time of 9h22m. 16 of the 189 swimmers were under the age of 20 showing how winter swimming following in the footsteps of standard open water swimming is gaining in popularity and with it credibilty. The prescense of high class, young swimmers is a real feather in the cap of this exciting sport.
Don’t forget to follow the progress of our winter swimming film here
Entering the water for the 750m (Photo by Andrea Katonova)
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