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.
Hong Kong-based cricket team Hung See this weekend found success in their matches in Taiwan, even if none of the results went their way. Hung See played the Chairman’s XI on Saturday morning, the Daredevils that afternoon and PCCT yesterday, with all three home teams winning. The team for Chinese players at the Happy Valley-based Craigengower Cricket Club sends teams on tour to “spread the game of cricket.” This weekend was Hung See’s second trip to Taiwan after visiting Tainan in 2016. “The club has been traveling to all parts of the world since 1982 and the annual tradition continues [with the Taiwan
Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei yesterday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while Coco Gauff’s dreams of a first women’s singles title in Melbourne were crushed in the quarter-finals by Paula Badosa. World No. 2 Alexander Zverev was ruffled by a stray feather in his men’s singles quarter-final, but he refocused to beat 12th seed Tommy Paul and reach the semi-finals. Third seeds Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia defeated Elena-Gabriela Ruse of Romania and Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine 6-2, 5-7, 7-5 in 2 hours, 20 minutes to advance the semi-finals. Hsieh and Ostapenko converted eight of 14 break
The San Francisco Giants signed 18-year-old Taiwanese pitcher Yang Nien-hsi (陽念希) to a contract worth a total of US$500,000 (NT $16.39 million). At a press event in Taipei on Wednesday, Jan. 22, the Giants’ Pacific Rim Area scout Evan Hsueh (薛奕煌) presented Yang with a Giants jersey to celebrate the signing. The deal consisted of a contract worth US$450,000 plus a US$50,000 scholarship bonus. Yang, who stands at 188 centimeters tall and weighs 85 kilograms, is of Indigenous Amis descent. With his fastest pitch clocking in at 150 kilometers per hour, Yang had been on Hsueh’s radar since playing in the HuaNan Cup
HARD TO SAY GOODBYE: After Coco Gauff dispatched Belinda Bencic in the fourth round, she wrote ‘RIP TikTok USA’ and drew a broken heart on a television camera lens Defending champion Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while compatriot Chan Hao-ching on Saturday dominated her opponents in the second round, as world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka swept into the quarter-finals. Third seeds Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia toppled Hungary’s Timea Babos and Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US 6-4, 6-3, hitting 24 winners and converting three of seven break points in 1 hour, 18 minutes at 1573 Arena. Although rivals at last year’s Australian Open — where Hsieh and Belgium’s Elise Mertens beat Ostapenko and Ukraine’s Lyudmyla Kichenok 6-1, 7-5
RSS