Plunging into a frozen lake and swimming laps might not be everyone’s good time, but for winter swimmers who return year after year to a northern Vermont lake near the Canadian border, there is nothing better.
The 10th annual Memphremagog Winter Swimming Festival began on Thursday and on Friday morning some of the 180 participants swam a lap wearing a decorated hat. Later on Friday was the 200m freestyle race in a narrow pool cut from the ice.
“It was amazing. It’s the highlight of my year,” said Andie Nelson, of Arlington, Virginia, after swimming 25m in the hat competition. “It makes me happy.”
Photo: AP
She planned to compete in all of the events over the three days and said it was more about the people and comradery than the icy water.
Ted Hirsch, 63, of Boston, and Ed Gabriels, 62, of Germantown, New York, have been competing against each other for about seven years This year, Gabriels beat Hirsh in the 200m freestyle.
A group of women from Canton, Ohio, called the Buckeye Bluetits range in age from 40 to about 80 years old and returned for their fourth year. They swim year-round at Meyers Lake at home, but would not miss the chance to swim in Vermont in what organizers say is some of the coldest winter swimming in the world.
“It’s the vibe. We have so much fun here and we’re amongst friends,” Margaret Gadzic said.
Winter and ice swimming is defined as swimming in water at 5°C or below, organizers said.
“Our water temperature is 30.5 degrees Fahrenheit [negative-0.8°C]. It’s microscopic slushy. We call it ‘totally cold’ and it is the coldest — some of the coldest water, coldest swim in the world,” said Phil White, the director of Kingdom Games, adding that it is the only competitive, 25m ice pool in all of the Americas.
Swimmers were escorted out onto the frozen lake in robes and stripped down into their suits just before plunging in. Once they finished, escorts handed them towels and robes before they were walked to a nearby warming building.
Nelson was so excited that she did not get much sleep on Thursday night before the 200m swim.
She said she inhaled some water and felt nauseous after eating lunch an hour earlier so she had to slow down her pace.
“It was still fun,” she said.
Twelve days after winning her second Grand Slam title at the French Open, Coco Gauff fell at the first hurdle on grass in Berlin on Thursday as beaten Paris finalist Aryna Sabalenka advanced to the quarter-finals. Recipient of a first round bye, American Gauff lost 6-3, 6-3 to Chinese qualifier Wang Xinyu as world number one Sabalenka beat Rebeka Masarova 6-2, 7-6 (8/6) in her second round tie. Winner of 10 main tour titles, including the US Open in 2023 and the WTA Finals last year, Gauff has yet to lift a trophy in a grass-court tournament. “After I won the first
While British star Jack Draper spent the past week trying to find rhythm and comfort in his first grass tournament of the season at the Queen’s Club Championships in London, Jiri Lehecka on Saturday bulldozed everything in his path. After more than two furious hours of battle, their form was reflected in the final scoreline as Lehecka toppled a frustrated Draper, the second seed, 6-4, 4-6, 7-5 to reach the biggest final of his career, against Carlos Alcaraz. Lehecka is also the first Czech to reach the men’s title match at Queen’s since Ivan Lendl lifted the trophy in 1990. Draper, who
Top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka staged a “crazy comeback,” saving four match points before beating Elena Rybakina 7-6 (6), 3-6, 7-6 (6) in the quarter-finals of the Berlin Open on Friday. Sabalenka was 6-2 down in the final-set tie-breaker, but won six straight points to reach her eighth semi-final of the season. “Elena is a great player and we’ve had a lot of tough battles,” Sabalenka said. “I have no idea how I was able to win those last points. I think I just got lucky.” “I remember a long time ago when I was just starting, I won a lot of matches being down
The Canterbury Crusaders edged the Waikato Chiefs 16-12 in an intense Super Rugby Pacific final battle in Christchurch yesterday to claim their 15th title in 30 years of the Southern Hemisphere competition. Hooker Codie Taylor scored a try and Rivez Reihana contributed 11 points from the kicking tee as the most dominant team in Super Rugby history extended their perfect home playoff record to 32 successive matches since 1998. The Chiefs, who were looking for a first title since 2013, scored first-half tries through George Dyer and Shaun Stevenson, but were unable to register a point after the break and fell to
RSS