Ice swimming

Duncan and the speaker discuss their experience swimming in cold water at the New Zealand Ice Swimming Pool Championships. Duncan swam 2250 meters in 2.6-degree water and found it challenging. They talk about the addictive nature of ice swimming and how it makes them feel alive. They also mention meeting other swimmers, including one who is blind. They interview several other participants who share their reasons for ice swimming, including inspiring others and the mental health benefits. Some swimmers come from Australia and Malaysia. They all mention the community and the challenge of ice swimming. Well, welcome to another Cleverdicts podcast. We're going to do things a little bit differently this time. So Duncan and I have just come back from the New Zealand or even Oceania Ice Swimming Pool Championships. And we just wanted to talk a little bit about how crazy swimming in really cold water is and why people do it. So we've got a couple of snippets from people. So you're going to hear from quite a few people that we talked to when we were down at the Ice Swimming Pool Championships and get a little bit of our views and hopefully you enjoy it. So to start off with, my mate Duncan here, the cleverest Cleverdict that we've got around, decided to swim as long and as hard and as cold as he possibly could down at the Ice Swimming Pool Championships. Sure. Is that correct? So how far did you go or do you need somebody else to tell you about that? So I managed to get to 2250 meters. The water temperature that morning was 2.1 and as I understand, swim still to be ratified by the way, it will go through international ice swimming ratification process. You've got to show videos and observers and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But as I understand it, the temperature for my swim was 2.6 degrees and it was hard, dude. It was a lot harder than I thought it would be. I'll tell you what, it was hard just watching you, dude. You started off, man, he was like this rocket ship going. And well, that's what we could see was going through his mind anyway. So I did have about four personal invitations for swim lessons and technique assistance after that swim. So I obviously looked like shit, dude. But yeah, it was interesting. It was interesting. Well, I'll tell you what, you could tell that he was working hard and yeah, it was pretty intense. So all of us down there had been in the water, but not for quite as long as Duncan managed. So I suppose the question that I asked lots of other people and to you, it's a bit crazy this ice swimming? Yeah, a little bit. I mean, no more crazier than your skydiving days or I don't know, racing motorbikes around a track or whatever the case might be. It probably looks more risky than what it actually is. But yeah, it's I guess just a little bit of a, I mean, for example, my wife doesn't understand. She's like, I don't know what the hell you're doing. That's just super cozy. I don't even think she knows that I sort of swam a little record there. She's not interested at all. But so I did a swim with Ram Barkai, who's the founder of International Ice Swimming Association back in, I checked the dates, 2013. And that was down in Fraserburgh in South Africa. And that was my little, there was a 500 metre swim in the back of some farm, some brown looking water, snowcapped mountains in the background. And there was just something that's addictive about it, right? I'm not a sort of techie guy like you're aware, but there's something about it, endorphins, energy release, something about pushing your body to the max and that recovery process that just makes you feel like super alive. And, you know, it's addictive. So yeah, you want to go back. So straight afterwards, you're like, hell no, I'm never going to go back and do that stupid thing again. But give it, you know, a week or two and you're already considering what the next swim looks like. And yeah, emigrated to New Zealand in 2018 and had a chat with Roger Solsby at that stage saying, Oi, what's happening? Where's some cold water on the island? And before we know it, or before we knew it, we had Ice Swimming New Zealand and we had a couple of national events. This is, I think, the fourth national event that we've had. You're the treasurer, so you'll know the dates better than me. But yeah, pretty, pretty cool to see the uptake with all of the people, some super crazies out there. We've met some amazing people, both sort of in inverted commas, normal people. And then other guys, you know, Mary Fisher, as an example, who I met for the first time last week, who's a blind swimmer swimming in ice. I mean, you know, if you think what I've done is crazy, what she's done is crazy times 10, right? So cool, cool people. There's some cool people. Okay. So what we've got is a couple of short little snippets from some people that we met down there. Hopefully you'll enjoy it. Here we go. I think we'll start off with Karim. Super cool. All right. So can you tell me your name and where you're from? My name is Karim Rasami and I'm from Auckland. Um, but your name, Karim, you're not originally from New Zealand, is that correct? No, I'm originally from Kabul, Afghanistan, but I call New Zealand home in the last 24 years. Oh, that's, that's wonderful. So ice swimming is a bit crazy, don't you think? Absolutely. I think you've got to be, it's one of those things that's just kind of like a, it's next level. It's hard to put them on words. It's hard to explain. You've got to be inside to feel it. It's one of those things. I don't think the word can describe it. Cool. But why do you do it? That's a very good question. Everybody got out their why's in their life and everybody got their own targets in life. My why is, why not? And my why is always as it is, is I want to inspire other people because I'm not a six foot four and a super duper and build up anything. I'm a fit for nothing and with a disability. And I come out here, freeze my things off. And for that target is one target and only target to inspire the people to look at it and to say, if this guy can do it, I can do better than him. All I want to do that. Well, I think that you're inspiring. Swimming in this is hard enough without a disability. So wonderful. Good work. Thank you. Thank you. Right. So what's your name and where are you from? Hi, I'm Peter Bradley. I'm from a place called Galaganbone in Central West, New South Wales, Australia. All the way from Australia to swim in New Zealand. Awesome. Yeah. And I'm Ben Clavell and I'm from Australia as well. And I'm from a little town called Broken Hill, which is about 14 hours west of Sydney. That's awesome. So isn't ice swimming a bit crazy? How come you guys have come all the way from Australia to come and swim in really cold water in New Zealand? Well, there's not many places that get this cold as what the water is here today, but it's the community, the competition, and that's what keeps us coming back. Yeah. And I got into ice swimming through Peter, my good friend here, and she's an accomplished ice swimmer in her own right. And I like the cold water, but Peter said to me, do you want to take it to the next level and go to ice? And I said, yeah. Oh, okay. So that was going to be my next question is the why you do it. So you really like the cold water? Oh, look, I do. And I like it for my own mental health reasons. I like it because it allows my brain to slow down, which is something that I suffer with. My brain's on the go the whole time. And when I get in the cold water, it's the one time during the day when I can see clearly. My brain is clear and the ice water, I guess, is the next level of that. That's awesome. And yourself, Peter? Yeah, I think it's the rush that I get afterwards and being able to train and have something to work towards and a goal is a really important part of my life. And the ice swimming enables that and the ice swimming community really, I guess, empowers that. That's awesome. Thanks very much, Peter. Thanks so much. Thanks, Peter. I'm here with Jackson. So Jackson, tell me a little bit who you are and where you're from. My name is Jackson Arledge. I'm currently living in Wellington. I have a fairly decent pool swimming background when I was a teenager. But yeah, now we're here swimming in the ice. Well, that's awesome. So tell me, you're down here at the Ice Swimming Champs, isn't ice swimming crazy? Isn't it a bit stupid? A little bit, but it's very controlled. It's very safe. We've got lots of support people looking after us and it's a great different challenge. Yeah, I really enjoy it. And why is it that you decided to do some of this really cold swimming? Because Alicia is a crazy person and twisted everyone's arm in Wellington that she could to come last year for the first time and caught the bug and so I'm coming back. That's awesome. Thanks, Jackson. Yeah, yeah, I'm kind of a peer pressure sucker too. What's your name and where are you from? I'm Weiping Chu and I'm from Malaysia originally, but I live in New Zealand now in Christchurch and that's my home now. And yeah. Wonderful. So this ice swimming is quite out there and a bit crazy, don't you think? Yes, it is. Everyone's been telling me, oh, you do ice swimming, you must be crazy. Everyone's like, oh, my goodness, that's next level of craziness. Because you don't get ice swimming in Malaysia, I don't think. No, no, Malaysia is like a tropical country. And so, yeah, I think I might be the only Malaysian that's doing ice swimming at the moment. There is another Malaysian member on the ISA website, but he's a warm member, so he hasn't had any experience in the cold water yet. So you've got Malaysian records all over, haven't you? Yeah. Just participate and you've got the Malaysian record. I like that. That's great. But tell me, why is it that you do it? Because this is not your first time. You've kept on coming back and coming back. I'm a sucker for punishment. Yeah, I just want that challenge and pushing myself and like, because when someone says, because I like trying new things, that's it. And then someone was saying, open water swimming. And then I tried that and it was terrible because I need to be rescued. Someone had to take me out of the water because I said, okay, I'll do the Fit and Able 500 meter open water swim. And then I'm like, head in, first time in the open water, can't see the bottom, panic. And I'm like, do doggy paddle. And then I can't do it. And then I put my hand up, take me out of the water. And then it took me about maybe a year and a half to get comfortable open water swimming. And then this group of friends that I swam with, the Canterbury open water swimmers, the Cowses, they were introducing ice swimming as well. And then they were talking about the ice now and I'm like, should I try that? Give it a go. And then I thought, okay, we'll just do one year, a little bit at a time and see how I go. That's good. So you've got a really good community of swimmers, the Canterbury open water swimmers? Yes. So I swim with a group of people. There's a group chat, we call ourselves the Sunrise swimmers. And we swim before work on the weekdays, like Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, sometimes Friday, and then Saturday afternoon. And then sometimes I swim with Lake Rua. There's another group that swims in Christchurch as well. And we just swim on Sunday or Saturday. I have a very quick question. You're a dentist, right? Yes, I'm a dentist. What is worse, an ice smile or toothache? I think toothache. That's awesome, Weiping. Thank you so much for the advice. Yes, thank you. So Jim, your first experience with ice swimming was you came down to Lake Linden probably three years ago to assist us. As a safety officer, you were working on IRB, looking like David Hasselhoff, just with icicles coming down on your ears and on your moustache. And I think we twisted your arm and sort of chucked you in. You did 20, 30 meters with no swim cap, no goggles. And since then, you've done two by one kilometers in the ice, the latest of which was last week in Alex, in the pool, one kilometer in just over two degrees Celsius. Now it's my chance to ask you, Mr. Clever-Dick, why? Well, that's interesting. So I've been thinking about it. I like to tell lots of people that I'm a sucker for peer pressure and that I do things because everyone torments me into doing it. But when I really get down to it, I'm a very social swimmer. I really enjoy swimming with people, and the cold water swimmers are some of the best people around. I had such a fantastic time every time I go away to one of these ice swimming events. But I also get a complete buzz out of doing the swim. While I might find, like many people, getting in the water is pretty hard, after about 10 minutes, it feels absolutely wonderful. And then as you sort of come through and get through the recovery, it also feels wonderful. I think one of the other reasons I do it is I really like challenging myself. I think that there's a bit of a... It's very easy to get very comfortable in this modern day and age. If you go back probably even 100 years ago, our ancestors just weren't able just to be warm all the time and well-fed all the time. I think that just pushing yourself out and looking for areas where you can challenge yourself certainly helps me mentally. I feel like a bit of a better person if I think I've done something that's challenging. So there's definitely that part of it as well. So basically what you're saying is all the guys you work with are a bunch of wussies? Yeah. How about the guys you work with? Yeah, definitely a bunch of wussies. Other than those guys who just run and do all kinds of other crazy things. But yeah, I think in general, society has just got too comfortable and I think that it's not good for our mental health and it's not good for our physical health. So imagine a movement is definitely good for you. I just feel so much better even if it's cutting the grass or doing something. It doesn't have to be like full-on running or swimming or something like that. Just movement is really cool. So yeah, that's kind of my way. So tell me in the kilometre, so you get in and it's obviously a bit of a shock to your system, right? You sort of take a couple of big breaths. If you're like me, that first length or two is quite tough. You're struggling to adjust. Your breathing is quite shallow. And then you find a bit of a rhythm. You hinted at it a little bit earlier. After that initial sort of panic type scenario, you start to feel really good. What happens after that? So I was very conscious that I hadn't swum in water that cold before. And one of the other swimmers, Sue, she was really good in that she pulled the pin on her swim at the right time. She's clever. She's clever. So what I did was I sort of set myself an initial target of half a kilometre. And after that, as I approached the end of the pool, finishing every 50, I mentally gave myself permission to stop. And then as I touched the wall, I said, I can do another 50. And that's the way that I dealt with it. I just kept on considering, should I stop? And then I felt, well, how did I feel? And I felt I could carry on. You did a little bit of a self-analysis and make sure you were still in good shape and fit to continue, right? Which I think is quite important when you do stuff. That's it. Yeah, I was able to think. So I'm very aware that when people get really cold, you know, your ability to think really reduces. So I was trying to sort of check that out and trying to keep my counting of lengths going, et cetera, et cetera. So that's how I kept on going. Okay. So for me as well, what worked quite nicely, we had the Aussie Joy. And we will get Joy onto this podcast at some point in time and talk about the amazing swim experiences that she offers on Keppel Island in Australia. Separate chat, but long story short is she was the sort of safety on deck person in a big-ass yellow, sorry, orange jacket. And I felt massive comfort in watching her walk up and down the pool right next to me, just watching my strokes, looking at my eyes. Towards the end of my swim, she was asking me a couple of questions, you know, what is your first born? What's his name? Blah, blah, blah. So I was quite comfortable that I could just continue and I was in good hands. All right. So tell me what's your name and where are you from? I'm Bethany Rogers. I'm originally from the UK, but I've been living in Queenstown for more than a decade now. Oh, that's awesome. So this ice swimming is a bit crazy, isn't it? What do you think? Yeah, it's mad, but I love it. All right, I see you love it, but why do you do it? What got you into this? I started out swimming without a wetsuit in Lake Wakatipu in Queenstown just because I was too stingy to buy one. I thought they were quite expensive. And then when I learned it was a sport from my friend Rachel, I was like, actually, this is quite cool that there's other people who always swim without wetsuits. And yeah, I got training from there. Did the open water at St. Bathans last year. Really enjoyed it. So I thought I'd come back and try the pool version. Oh, cool. How far did you go in the open water? I did a thousand last year. I did my first 1K. That's awesome. And now you're at the Pool Champs and it's butterfly coming up, I understand. It is, yes. 100 metres fly this afternoon. 100 metres fly in really cold water. You've got to be crazy. Definitely. Yeah, I'm quite excited, but really nervous. Oh, that's awesome. Thanks for talking to us, Bethany. Appreciate it. Thank you. Good to talk to you. Right. What's your name and where are you from? I'm Cameron Stanley and I live in Queensbury, which is near Wanaka at the moment. That's awesome. So you've just done a 500 metre ice swim. Isn't that a bit crazy? Yeah, I'm questioning my own sanity at the moment, probably, especially in 2.1 degrees, but it's pretty awesome to get to the end of it. Yeah, you did an awesome swim there. So tell me, why did you do it? I sort of initially got roped into this competition by Belinda Donaldson, who heard about it and then convinced Laura Quilter to do it, who then convinced me to do it, to have someone else to do it with. And then once I made the decision to enter, I was like, I'm going to do it. I'm going to do it properly. So I did a bit of training and sort of like the idea of the challenge and yeah, here I am. That's awesome. You're going to do it again? Yeah, I could be back. We'll see. We'll see how it goes. Yeah, it's more the training that puts me off. I like being here. It's a great atmosphere, great people and yeah, really cool to be a part of. How was your recovery? Better than expected today. A little bit of shivering, but actually better than the 250. I think in the 250, I went out a bit too hard. I got a really tight chest. I tried to push, I get really bad brain trees and I tried to push through them, keep swimming freestyle and I got really dizzy and sore in the head. Whereas today I took it a bit easier, relaxed a little bit more, did some backstroke and yeah, it was a lot better actually. So yeah. Awesome. Thanks for that Cameron. Really appreciate it. Okay. So tell me your name and where are you from? Brent Bothell. I'm from Blenheim in lovely Marlborough. That's wonderful. Now this ice swimming is a bit crazy, don't you think? Yes. Well, it's not crazy to me. You mention it to the staff at the supermarket when you go, you know, pick up a bit of shopping and they all think you're completely mad, but for us as a group of people, it's not, you know, we love it. We love it. That's great. And why is it that you got into or why do you do the swimming? Well, to explain it quickly, that's a bit of a long story. I've always been around water, but about six years ago, a friend of mine who's done a few Ironmans, he started cold showers. I was on holiday in Australia back to visit some friends because I lived there and he said, I've started cold showers. I'll challenge you to see who can do cold showers for the longest. So he lasted three months and then I got a message of had a hot shower. Okay. That means you've won. And I thought, well, what do I do? And Ironmans challenged me to this. I'm an amputee. I've got weak legs, but I can probably beat him at this. I went a whole year so I could send one text message to him to say I did a year. And then I thought maybe I can do two. And it went from there. That's amazing. So you are quite inspirational. As you said, you're an amputee and you're sitting there competing with a whole bunch of able-bodied swimmers. You are inspirational. I've got to say, how does it feel just being part of it? It's to be the first New Zealand amputee ice swimmer compared to it was a special thing, first a special. And then this event being a Southern Hemisphere competition, I get to be the first amputee to compete at this level in a number of events. It's pretty special to me. Yeah, it's really good. Brent, you're an inspiration to all of us. Thanks so much for talking to us. Oh, no, thank you. And thanks for all you do here. And thanks to everyone that helps out. It's a really special thing for me to be involved with. Awesome. Thank you. Yeah, so that was Brent. What a legend. He won a Clever Dicks Award for the Swimmer's Choice Award for Perseverance and Humility. So Brent, again, dude, I've learned a little bit about myself, but I've learned so much about sort of just people in general from you, dude. You definitely inspire me. And that's off, man. He's way tougher than you, Jim. Well, that's fine because almost everybody there was tougher than me. Yeah, so we had a really great time. I just wanted to have a shout out because a lot of people think it's all about the swimmers. But what we had was just a wonderful community. We had a lot of supporters who, you know, every swimmer, when they came out, especially if they'd done a longer swim, they had a buddy just to make sure that they could get dressed and get warmed up. But we had people just volunteering and putting their hands up. And if they weren't doing that, they were manning the stopwatches and helping marshalling and just holding towels and coats for people. Opening doors, helping people get dressed, putting underpants on, like all sorts of stuff. All sorts of stuff. And we had a number of people just really focused on safety. You mentioned Joy, but we also had Lee and Ewan and a couple of people who were just there to make sure that we were safe. Yeah. And the last bit was we had an amazing team in the medical tent. You know, we had Aunty Meg. We had Aunty Meg and Bree. Bree was just, she was tough as. Duncan comes along after his swim and she takes a look at all the clothes that he's put there and she threw them almost in the bin and said, those are just not acceptable. What's this cotton shit? What's this cotton stuff? Just strip him down and put him naked in the bed. We'll put stuff around him. And then we had the doctors Dagmar and Curran as well. So, you know, we were super well looked after. People were filling water bottles, hot water bottles for us. You had Jennifer on the coffees and soups. So that's why I think all of the swimmers there were able to push their limits because they knew that there were sufficient people around there to get their backs. And people like Joy also knew when to tell people to stop swimming when they were getting a bit too close to their limits. So just a big shout out to everybody who was there. Nobody needed to be coerced to do things. Everyone just helped out. It was a really great event. And linked to that, there was a, I mean, obviously it's a tiny little event and every cent helps. And there was a couple of guys, a couple of sponsors that did really go out of their way to assist us. Swim T3 as per normal is always helping us out. Thank you, Dan. Zogs did all of our caps for us, the silicone caps as a sponsorship. Zogs, for me, any time I drop them a line and ask them to help, they are involved. And they just happen to have the best goggles in the world as well. The Alex Pool and Nature Center as a whole is an amazing center. The staff there literally bent over backwards to make room. I'm just jumping in. I'll tell you what, we just got made so welcome. One day we were muttered, where's the coffee? And the next thing, the next day, there's a coffee cart outside. Damn, damn, Jim. Coffee Carts, which was amazing. Point Chef Cafe, which is owned by Karim, one of the swimmers, assisted with quite a lot of bits and pieces as well. If you're in Auckland, pop into Point Chef Cafe. I can vouch for it. It's really, really awesome. Malford Pizza gave away a couple of vouchers. Mons Royal gave us some equipment to help the event happen. So big gazebos, prizes, they were really involved in all those bits and pieces. Toasty Life. I don't know if you know them. You'll know them, Jim. But if the listeners don't know them, they are super thick, chunky, I guess, winter-type jackets that you could wear in the snow, at ice swimming events, after an ocean swim, etc. They are amazing. Look them up, Toasty Life. I got one of their beanies. It was so hot, I couldn't keep it on. Legends, legends, legends. And then, I guess, again, President of us, New Zealand, Roger, gives up massive amounts of his time. Thank you, Roger. You're a legend. When I'm big and old, I want to be like you, except for the eyebrows. I don't like the eyebrows, but you've got big eyebrows. Sue, you're a legend. You give away time and more time and more time, and then you still kick ass in some 2.1 kilometres, which is just ridiculous. And then, yeah, I guess, Jim, what's next is the guys are putting together a team for World Champs. Yeah, after Malvino in Italy in January 2025. So, the Kiwis will be representing over there. Hopefully, some of the Aussies are going to put a bit of a team together. They were there last time. Yeah, I think the Aussies were pretty sucked up, right? So, there's at least, I don't know, three, four, five of them that would have qualified at our event. Yeah. Aussie, Aussie, Aussie. Yeah, man. So, I guess the last thing, Jim, is if anybody is interested in ice swimming, there's a really great community in New Zealand that are supportive for newbies and will always put safety first. And I reckon the best place to contact them is at iceswimmingnz at gmail.com, or alternatively, drop us a note on our Instagram account or on this podcast and get involved. And if you're listening to this outside of New Zealand, you can just go to the internationaliceswimming.com website that they've got. You can find links to all of the countries that get involved, and you'll be able to get some local contacts if that's what interests you. Yeah, and hopefully, the next time we do a podcast, I'll be able to show my fingertips. I'm still getting there. I'm not quite there yet. Mine is still a little bit numb as well. Okay. See you guys in the water. Cheers, everybody.