The inaugural New Zealand National Ice Swimming Pool Championships wrapped up in Alexandra yesterday with organisers hailing it a success.
International Ice Swimming Association (IISA) Aotearoa New Zealand events director Susan Sherwen said age group world records were broken across all distances.
"We’ve got a number of seconds and thirds too which is pretty cool so we will have our names well and truly on that record book which will be really, really cool."
Internationally, the sport was in about 70 countries — mostly in the northern hemisphere — and Ms Sherwen credits Covid-19 in part for its growth in New Zealand.
"In Covid in Auckland we had so many lockdowns where we couldn’t use the pools, so we all just swam in the sea and got used to swimming in the cold and it’s grown from there," she said.
The challenge and the camaraderie were part of the sport’s appeal, with many swimmers being encouraged to give it a go by others, she said.
"It’s usually somebody else has said to them, ‘hey, why don’t you give this a go, come along, ditch your wetsuit and swim in the sea for a bit, see how you like that,’ and then ‘hey, how about taking the next step’."
"I didn’t know half the people when we came down [for the meet] but now they’re great friends."
