Winter Swimming Championships

Festival Location: London, England

Festival Type(s): Water Sports Events, Extreme Sports Events, Bizarre Festivals

Extreme Coldwater Swimming Championships

By: © Michael J. Rosen 2009

When it comes to sports, extreme heat encourages competitors to remove their clothes. Fewer layers, lighter fabrics, skimpier uniforms, more skin exposed, greater interest from cameramen. base. Surprisingly enough, so does extreme cold.

It's true: some do like it hot. The rest, on the other hand, drink Brass Monkeys, Blue Tits, and Chilly Willy: The only three beers served at the Winter Swimming Championships. The 850 swimmers there compete in:

a coldwater race (that's your basic 25-meter sprint in your basic ice bath)
an endurance event (that's 450 meters of shivering)
and in artistic competitions (teams of 3 to 20 offer two-to-five minute "preferably humorous" performances that may include costumes, music, and storyline while in water that hovers just above 32°F.

If you're the sort who prefers to just plunge in and get it over with as quickly as possible, you're out of luck: Diving is prohibited; there's a high likelihood of experiencing cold shock, which is a world of pain worse than sticker shock. In fact, putting one's head underwater is illegal; only the "head-up breaststroke" is legal at the Championships, and all swimmers must wear a hat or cap to hold in body heat, ninety percent of which will escape through the scalp.

After each race, swimmers immediately retrieve their clothes, take warm showers, and attempt to revive their own blue tits and brass monkeys. Despite the temporarily detrimental physical effects of coldwater swimming, many regular competitors claim improved circulation, stronger immune systems, and an increased urge to warm up their own chilly willies.

"When you first jump in, your skin is absolutely burning. You also experience massive hyperventilation, so coordinating the breathing with the swimming stroke is really difficult. Because I swim the crawl, I often gasp in a little bit of water. After five or ten minutes you start losing the feeling in your fingers and toes, and as it slowly moves up your legs, you notice how inefficient your stroke is becoming. Then you have this feeling of miserable, aching cold, deep inside you. That's probably a good time to get out."

- Lewis Gordon Pugh

Englishman Lewis Gordon Pugh is the most prolific coldwater swimmer in history: He is the only man to swim long distances in all five oceans, including a 19-minute kilometer and a 30-minute mile (mercifully sparing anyone a metric conversation) in water between 32° and 37°F.

Pugh is also a solid, no-special-effects-necessary candidate for a future X-Men movie. He's the only person ever recorded with the mutant power of anticipatory thermogenesis! While not as marketable, perhaps, as telekinesis or metamorphosing into various beasts, he has a conditional response that allows him to elevate his body temperature simply by standing at the edge of cold water. (Mere mortals merely shiver, dip a toe into the water, and complain to the lifeguard.) This means that Pugh-who routinely gains between 30 and 40 pounds before undertaking a swim - begins the day at 98.6 degrees and dives into sub-zero water with a 101°F fever.

When he's not busy pounding down the calories for a frigid-swim weight gain, Pugh serves as a maritime lawyer and leading global environmentalist. Evil doers-Magneto, toxic waste-dumpers, polluters - watch out.

Thinking of going for a dip, just Pugh and you? Take the plunge at www.lewispugh.com

What Happens at

Temperature

starting temperature at the World Sauna Championships

230°

proper brewing temperature for a cup of coffee

195 – 205°

a pot of water comes to the simmer (sea level)

190°

average sauna

170 – 190°

max. setting for the amazing slimmerizing sauna belt

167°

cranked up steam room

154°

eggs begin to cook

144°

chocolate burns

125°

Lewis Gordon Pugh's body temp upon entering water

101.2°

Pugh's (and your) normal human body temperature

98.6°

Pugh's body temp as he enters the boat after his swim

91.4°

average temperature of a typical refrigerator

40°

the ideal temperature to enjoy a Coke according to Coca-Cola

38°

pool temperature for the winter swim competitions

33°

water freezes

32°

well-shaken martini, neat

28°

No Dribbling the Squid

The above article is just one of a collection of off-beat articles on 2camels from Michael J. Rosen's wonderful No Dribbling the Squid - your front-row seat to 70 of the world's most mind-blowing feats of strength, endurance, and eccentricity.

For more info check out the No Dribbling the Squid website, Facebook fan page or Michael's very own website.

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Winter Swimming Championships Dates and Location

The Winter Swimming Championships are held annually in Februaury in Tooting Bec (London), U.K. Check out the Winter Swimming Championships web site for up-to-the-minute dates and details.