77th Alfred Nikodem Memorial 2023 – First Prague Cold-Water Swimming Club

Ninety-nine years of an unbroken tradition: every Christmas, year after year, cold-water swimmers have taken to the icy Vltava in Prague. At first they were thought to be mad… During the Second World War they kept the custom alive despite a Nazi ban carrying the death penalty… Sometimes the ice was so thick that the water froze again as they cut through it… Even Covid-19 did not stop the tradition: twice, the Nikodem Memorial went ahead under a Ministry of Health exemption secured thanks to the event’s renown… Then so much water came rushing beneath the National Theatre that, after a hundred years, the tradition might finally be broken? The answer was simple:

No!

The final major surge of water, which the Vltava River Authority unexpectedly had to release from Vrané Reservoir only a day before the event, led Prague to declare its first-level flood alert twenty-two hours before the planned start. As a precaution, this included a ban on boarding and disembarking from boats in Prague 1. A competition cannot be organised under that restriction, so the organisers officially cancelled the swimming race.

But everything was ready for a gathering of cold-water swimmers. Our organising club therefore decided to put up the tents by Žofín, make several urns of tea, bring the prepared refreshments and hand out certificates with “a squat” written where the distance in metres would normally appear. We would simply meet and honour Alfred Nikodém in the true spirit of a memorial — an event, usually sporting, held in tribute to a distinguished athlete who has died — and keep the tradition he founded in 1923 alive this year too.

In the internet age, the plan for an “almost club-only event” did not stay entirely secret. We were therefore delighted to welcome many swimmers from other clubs, and unaffiliated swimmers too, at the tip of Slovanský Island.

At the opening ceremony, Prague 1 Mayor Terezie Radoměřská welcomed the swimmers. She had granted the event her patronage and personally done a great deal to help make the anniversary gathering happen. After greeting everyone, she used a ceremonial cup to christen a book by journalist and organising club member Jan David. Written as a tribute to cold-water swimming, its title says it all: “MRZNEME NAPŘÍČ VLTAVOU – 100 let zimního plavání od dob průkopníka Alfreda Nikodéma” (“Freezing Across the Vltava — 100 Years of Winter Swimming Since Pioneer Alfred Nikodém”). Together with Austrian swimmer Josef Köberl, she congratulated this year’s English Channel swimmers, I. PKO members Zdeněk Martinec (born 1978) and Filip Jícha (born 2004). The mayor presented them with beautiful glass trophies. Köberl, the Viennese swimmer who crossed the Channel in 2015, gave them unusual prizes: cold-water swimming courses in Austria’s mineral-rich glacial water at temperatures below freezing.

We also kept another opening-ceremony tradition: honouring an important figure from our community on a commemorative badge. This year we took the exceptional step of producing two designs. Naturally, given the centenary, one featured Alfred Nikodém himself. It was only the second time he had appeared on a badge, roughly twenty years after the first. The other honoured Miroslav Kedršt, an inland-waterways captain who celebrated his ninetieth birthday that autumn. He has worked in shipping for an incredible seventy-five years and, on around fifteen occasions in the past, transported and lent the Nikodem Memorial a large pontoon free of charge, adapting it specifically to the event’s needs.

The swimmers gave the anniversary gathering their traditional three cheers. Although approximately 580 cubic metres of water per second were flowing through Prague and the competitive element had to be dropped, the sheltered water below Slovanský Island offered enough safe space for a dip in the somewhat muddy river. The combined start and results list ultimately contained 160 swimmers. Nobody had any trouble with the current during their dip. It also became clear that the Christmas Eve proposal for a shortened 62.5-metre circuit in the stronger flow would have been safely swimmable even at the time of this symbolic dip.

The air temperature was an almost spring-like 9°C, and the water was relatively “warm” too, at 5.7°C. This year’s oldest female participants were Milena Holubcová and Iva Klásková, both born in 1947. The oldest man was Michael Posejpal, born in 1946. All are members of the organising club, I. PKO.

Thank you to all participants and supporters of the Alfred Nikodem Memorial. We hope to see you again next year in more favourable conditions!

Results

Alfred Nikodem Memorial 2023 — results

This year’s event was once again part of the Czech Sports Union’s “Sportuj s námi” (“Play sport with us”) programme.

The main event partner was Pražské Benátky. Further support came from Bytostav, SUPTel, Etewa, Fiskars, Born To Swim, Elektroštika, Jůzek-elektro, Masi-co, the family jewellery company JK Jitka Kudláčková, the Prague Fire Rescue Service, Prague City Hall and Prague 1 District.

Main event partner