I started my ice swimming journey a decade ago when I decided to continue to swim in the open water through the UK winter as the temperatures dropped.
The first couple of years were formative as I didn’t really have a clear plan of what I wanted to achieve other than experiencing the adrenaline rush from swimming in very cold water.
It’s fair to say that my “swims” were more like elongated dips. There were very few people experienced in ice swimming so there was limited opportunity to seek advice and direction.
I started to research ice swimming and gradually started to gain an idea of the science and the method of staying longer in the cold water. At this point I had never heard of IISA and had no idea that ice miles even existed.
This changed when I met Bryn Dymott a double ice miler. I picked his brain and realised that I could do a lot more than I was actually doing in the cold water.
The best advice he gave me was to swim for a minimum of 30 minutes, no matter the temperature. In terms of icy swimming this advanced my achievements dramatically within 1 winter to the point that I booked my first ice mile.
It is still best advice I received and give if a swimmer wants to work towards an ice mile.
In 2016 I did my first Ice Mile at Hatfield in Yorkshire, a venue that has overseen more ice miles than anywhere else in the world. I swam as a proud Kiwi becoming the first NZ man and 3rd New Zealander after Charlotte Brynn and Tracy Clark.
At this point I had spent hours in really cold water so I had few after effects and recovered pretty much straight away. Thankfully that is still the case today!
I then did an official Ice Mile each year and do at least 4 or 5 unofficial ones in the river each winter.
In 2019 I was immensely proud to represent New Zealand at the 3rd IISA World Championships way above the Arctic Circle in Murmansk Russia where I was fortunate to win a bronze medal for the 1K in my age group. The water was 0 and the air was somewhere way under!
My 5th Ice Mile was delayed by Covid lockdowns so had to wait until 2022.
I did it in the magical setting of The Falcon at Castle Ashby in Northamptonshire in a Grade 1 listed landscape designed in the 1700’s by the renowned landscape architect Capability Brown.
As I approach 65 I’m thrilled to join the small band of people (11 I think) who have done 5 or more Ice Miles and I am now amongst the oldest swimmers to have completed one successfully.
I am looking forward to getting plenty more in and relish the prospect of a New Zealand team at the World Championships in 2023.