An official air temperature eighteen degrees warmer than last year greeted swimmers at our second home competition, Braník Ice, also held as the second Ladislav Nicek Memorial. Even so, participants were not denied an extreme experience. Last year it was −14°C frost; this year the Vltava was well above the first flood-alert threshold. The exceptionally fast current drew ninety entrants to the longest race, one kilometre.
Twenty-eight of those ninety kilometre swimmers were from our club. The fast current carried the entire field to the finish within four minutes of one another. Our top-ten finishers were Petr Tomášek in second, Petr Hubal sixth, Zdeněk Tlamicha eighth and Artur Kubica ninth.
The 750 metres had the smallest field, consisting of swimmers whose cold-water performance grades did not allow them to move up to the kilometre. Only eleven eligible competitors started, plus three whom the rules did not permit to race and who were therefore disqualified. Eight of the classified swimmers were ours. They gentlemanly allowed the three visitors to finish first, then followed them home. Jaroslav Kolář was our best in fourth.
A season that had offered few opportunities to earn cold-water grades brought 55 swimmers to the 500 metres, the longest distance the rules allowed for most of them. With one junior girl taking part, this distance was also timed, giving I. PKO two medals. Jakub Valníček beat all 54 opponents, including nineteen other clubmates, while Tomáš Pilát finished third.
The 250 metres was untimed. Eleven of its 31 swimmers were ours, including Martin Ullwer, who virtually dropped in for it after completing the full kilometre while testing the course before the official start.
The shortest distance was the customary 100 metres, with eleven I. PKO swimmers and three visitors.
Despite the finish officials’ dedicated work, holding the races in such a fast current caused some confusion in the results. Fortunately, all but one of the swimmers’ objections were raised calmly. With video recordings also helping, we were eventually able to put the results into usable order.
The eleventh Braník Ice could therefore close with a sense of a job well done, appreciated by most of the swimmers.
There will be one more opportunity to watch winter swimmers in Prague this season. Exactly a month after Braník Ice, on 2 March 2013, we will organise the Czech Winter Swimming Championships in breaststroke in Podolí Swimming Stadium’s outdoor 50-metre pool.