Winter swimming contest – Nachod, CZ

In the second week of January the thaw really began to take hold and water levels rose to incredible levels giving the feeling that it was April and spring had already arrived. All week the rivers swelled as the snow melted and the swimming event itself was in the balance but finally the decision was made on Friday to swim. Everyone was relieved especially as it was the 40th anniversary and a special celebration had been prepared by the organising club Metuje Tygri Nachod.

In yet another example of nature and changing weather this event has seen completely different conditions in each of the last three years. In 2009 the river was completely frozen and the contest took place in a pool cut from the ice, last year saw cold temperatures, a little ice and a very slow current. However this year the river Metuje looked completely differnt and was verging on white water. The water level was measured at something like 450 cubic metres per second, though this was some hours before the start and it was undoubtedly faster at the off. Perhaps a more practical explanation is that 102 metres per minute was the speed a stick was travelling at. Putting this into context 40 metres per minute is generally considered very fast for swimming in a river!

The usually sedate Metuje resembled a fierce mountain stream but this didn't deter 56 winter swimmers from braving the 750m race. The water temperature was 3.8c but with such a toboggan ride in store for once this aspect of conditions paled into insignificance compared with making it out of the water before finding oneself in the Baltic sea! Sensibly there was no mass start but swimmers set off in pairs 2 at intervals of 30 seconds. The fastest two according to ratings were Milan Stencl and Denisa Haltmarova, both of PK Zabreh and they set off first. However they could only manage fifth and ninth place respectively as the extreme conditions caused an upset. There was a tie for first place between channel swimmer Petr Mihola of Fides Brno and Jaromir Svestka of university Olomouc, the pair taking just 4m30s to cover the 750m. just 2 seconds back and another tie for third place between Michael Moravec of Lokomotiv Brno and Vlastimil Zaoral (senior) of Spartak Prerov. All participants managed to negotiate the course safely and in under 6 mintes. Safety was well taken care of and the organisation in general was antastic including the celebration aftrewards which carried on into the early hours and included a visit to the local brewery, a magician and a disco. Winter swimming might be tough at times but you have to be able to let your hair down at times. If you can survive such extreme swimming then an all night party once in a while should be childs play. Meanwhile our campaign has less than a week to run so come and join us here or read the post below this one for more information on how you can become involved.

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