CHINESE WINTER SWIM FESTIVAL
2012 began in the Far East with 800 swimmers
in Daming Lake on New Year’s Day for the fi rst International Festival for Winter Swimming in Springs in Jinan, China. Although winter air temperatures are below freezing every night and day time temperatures are barely above freezing the lake is spring fed and was relatively warm at 8°C. Spectators were wrapped in warm clothing
while swimmers were just in swimsuits; no wetsuits for this winter swimming event. Participants came from across China as well as Hong Kong, Taiwan, Macao, United Kingdom, USA, Germany, Czech Republic, Estonia and Russia. Swimming took two forms with swims for fun as well as competitive racing. Competitors were taken by boat to Lixia Pavilion Island, just visible through swirls of mist, to race
the 300m distance back to the eastern shore. With hundreds of swimmers competing, categories based on age and gender limited swimming group sizes to around 50 to manage the safety of swimmers in the water. Racers followed the path marked out by fl uorescent buoys accompanied by a small fl otilla of boats that picked up swimmers who dropped out of the race. On reaching the shore competitors were greeted by a barrage of photographers, given a hand get ing out by offi cials and led down the red carpet to the fi lm crews and enthusiastic crowd watching the event. Lesley Gorman, who at ended as a towel holder for a friend who swam, is now inspired to swim next year, said “It was awesome. Fantastically well organised with everyone looked aſt er and catered for, exciting and in a beautiful environment.” The smooth running of the
A total of 800 swimmers took part in the fi rst Winter Swimming Festival in Jinan Province, China.
PIER TO PUB
A record 5,000 swimmers contested the annual Pier
to Pub swim at Lorne in Victoria, Australia, in January. The world’s largest open water swim is a 1.2km race from Lorne Pier to Lorne Surf Lifesaving Club. In the women’s event, British Olympian Ellen Gandy took out the top spot (12:48), beating three-time champion Harriet Brown of the Ocean Grove by just three seconds. Current Australian
5,000-metre champion Codie Grimsey won the men’s event, posting a time of 11 minutes, 53 seconds, beating Sam Sheppard and Patrick Cobiac into second and third respectively. A record crowd of 20,000
were present to usher in the new champions and watch friends and family cross the fi nish line.
event was made possible by 200 volunteers who helped organise swimmers, and the endless supply of hot green tea to warm up swimmers aſt er their dip. Words & image: Susan Masters
FROM POOL TO POINT
The Point Leo Swim Classic is a premier event on the open water swim calendar, and is held annually over a distance of 1,200 metres. Aſt er learning of the event in H2Open, dedicated pool swimmer Elizabeth Tarr from London decided she would take part. “Last year my husband and I decided to spend Christmas in Melbourne, and we saw in H2Open that the Point Leo Swim Classic is held each Boxing Day off the Mornington Pennisula south of Melbourne. “That’s how I found myself, fairly nervous, on the Point Leo beach, with around 280 Australians and a loyal band of seven supporters.” Tarr faced rain, wind and seas so rough the course was shortened to 700m. She competed in the Masters event with 35 others, coming eighth overall but placing third among women swimmers. “Despite the
weather I enjoyed it, but for now it’s back to the pool and my own personal drug – chlorine!”
HECKER’S HEROICS
Tom Hecker, who swims with La Jolla Cove swimming club in California, became the oldest person to swim New Zealand’s Cook Strait on 17th January this year. Hecker, who’s 60, is a veteran of many long distance swims including the English Channel, the Straits of Gibraltar, Catalina Channel and Manhat an Island. He said the swim was one of the toughest he’s done. “I had to use all the tools
for my mind and body that I’ve learnt through swimming to complete this one,” he says. “The water was only 14 degrees at the start and it became pret y rough in the middle as the wind picked up. We chose to swim from the South Island to the North, so that the wind and waves would come at us from behind, but I found that completely unbalanced me in the water.” The swim took 10hrs 36 minutes in total. Hecker remembers get ing through the fi rst part of the swim by reminding himself of how far he’d swum in training and the second part by deciding that he wouldn’t be the one that called the swim off . He’d only stop if ordered to by his boat crew, who included Philip Rush, one of only a handful of people in the world to have completed a 3-way English Channel Swim. This was Hecker’s second
at empt at the Cook Strait. On a previous trip to New Zealand two years ago he couldn’t even start because of the weather. He adds that becoming the oldest person to complete the crossing wasn’t a particular ambition. “I just did the swim because I wanted to,” he says. As for his next swimming challenge, Hecker is coy. “I’m not telling anybody what comes next, as then I’ll have to do it.”
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