Writing about an event that took place over 1 month ago isn’t easy but in the case of this winter swimming competition it stuck in the mind (& the fingertips!).
A mild winter, but more importantly for the Labe river very little precipitation meaning less water and therefore a slow rate of flow. 15m/minute is the cut off point in Czech winter swimming and if the flow rate exceeds this then it is deemed unsafe to swim upstream and therefore the contest will be downstream only. The informationn that filtered through on the day was that this was the first time in the 40 year history of the contest that it had been held in still water conditions. Nobody knoew what to expect and this made for an interesting event.
On arrival it was confirmed that conditions were “still” and the water just 3,5c. This meant the rare chance to swim 1km in still water under genuine winter conditions. From my own point of view I ducked the 1km the week before in favour of the 750m for legitimate health reasons, (even wearing neoprene socks, but thats another story for another time) so I badly wanted the 1km as I knew it might be the last chance this season. I wasn’t 100% and in fact I had the neoprene socks in my bag but I knwew that they would slow me down too much to swim the 1km with them on. I was dithering a little at the registration but I soon made a decision after speaking with the 69 year old Jan Novak. Although now retired, he is a legend amongst Czech open water swimmers with several English channel crossings to his name icluding a 2 way. He also swum a long distance in Lake Baikal that may be a world record. difficult to translate Czech language exactly but the gist of it was “try a bit of cream and get on with it.” Needless to say I was entered for the 1km.
Just 14 “borci” (hardmen) went for the 1km distance with the rest of the 136 participants going for 100, 250, 500 or 750m. All were a test given the conditions but it didn’t stop anyone with the yougest in his early teens and the oldest in his eighties.
I am not the fastest swimmer, in fact I am slow but at the first turn buoy some 200m into the 1km I knew I was in for a slog as the rest of them had already left me for dead. I held onto a group for the first 100m but then they just seemed to get away from me! At thend of the first 500m circuit I was some way behind and at one point I even doubted whether I had missed a turn buoy but as I neared the bank and saw the referee Jan Novak stading there I upped my effort and set out on the final lap. I didn’t make any inroads into the rest of them but I kept going to the line and finished in 21m 5s. Afterwards I was quite popular with a few spectators and it seemed in the changing rooms that I had again won a little respect with my attitude. I knew I would come last and perhaps some people would have opted for the 750m but I wanted that 1km. After a quick lunch of Gulas and a beer i raced off before the results were announced as i had somewhere else to be. It was only later in the week that I heard that I was announced as the overall winner of the contest as I had spent the longest time in the water! I was already satisfied but when I heard this I smiled broader than ever. Again proof that open water swimming isn’t all about winning. If you can win the battle with yourself and be at one with nature then you are a winner, look at the amazing channel swim of Jackie Cobell.
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