Braník Ice 2016

Updated with Antonín Kutil’s photo gallery.
On 6 February 2016, our club organised the fourteenth Braník Ice as part of the Czech Cup: traditionally the last opportunity to earn points before the Czech Winter Swimming Freestyle Championships in Brno. For the fifth year, it was held as the Ladislav Nicek Memorial, honouring the elder statesman of Czech cold-water swimming. I would like to begin with a few words about a man I remember personally and used to meet at competitions from the start of my membership in November 2007.

The Ladislav Nicek Memorial

Ladislav Nicek was born in August 1913. I first met him on St Stephen’s Day 2007, when he was 94. I was amazed that a man of his age could travel alone by train from Olomouc to Prague, make his way from the main station to Žofín, change into swimming trunks and swim 100 metres in icy water, then go home to Olomouc again. An absolutely extraordinary achievement. Many people that age struggle with basic bodily functions, yet here he was, such a “wild thing”. Wonderful. All, in his view, thanks to his love of swimming in cold water; he reportedly credited it with helping him overcome bowel cancer too. I often “borrow” Mr Nicek as an argument when defending my hobby in family discussions, where I frequently face disapproval.

In May 2011, this news reached the cold-water swimming community:

On Thursday 12 May 2011, the oldest Czech cold-water swimmer, RNDr. Ing. Ladislav Nicek, born 27 August 1913, passed away.

What a shame: he was so close to a hundred. He could have stayed with us a little longer. From Christmas 2011 onwards, dear Laďa was no longer there at the St Stephen’s Day Vltava event. Each year a speech remembers him, and our club began holding Braník Ice in his memory, not least because the 2011 edition was his final competition.

Early February is usually the coldest part of the year, with bitter frost and water only just above freezing. The name Braník Ice generally describes the real conditions. It is usually freezing then, and if ice is being broken on the Berounka, floes can even drift down the Vltava. This year was different. The frost had passed and sunshine warmed the air to 3.9°C and the water to 4.5°C. Saturday was beautifully clear, and sitting in the sunshine felt almost springlike. Although we swimmers enjoyed the conditions, we agreed that the proper cold-water swimming backdrop was missing: snow-covered banks look better in photographs and film than mud.

The competition

The AC Sparta canoeing club lent us its building and gym as a base for swimmers and organisers. Registration and preparations began there at 11:00. At about 12:20, swimmers moved to the riverbank for the opening assembly scheduled for 12:30, where cameras were already waiting. Our event grows more popular every year, attracting more competitors and steadily more media attention.

Event director and I. PKO chairman Tomáš Prokop officially opened Braník Ice at 12:30. He began by reminding everyone that it was the Laďa Nicek Memorial, introducing Laďa’s son and thanking him for attending. He greeted and introduced our member Boženka Černá, the event’s oldest female swimmer. To reassure the swimmers, he explained that water rescue crews were present in six boats, then outlined the programme. Formalities complete, racing could begin.

The distances were 100, 250, 500, 750 and 1,000 metres. Only the 750 and 1,000 metres were timed and ranked; the shorter swims were participation events. Each distance had its own start, with everyone swimming downstream to a shared finish.

There were 218 swimmers in total. Slightly more entered the untimed distances than the competitive ones, 111 to 107, and men heavily outnumbered women, 160 to 58. The host club, I. PKO, had the largest team. Many of our swimmers were entered in Sunday’s Kryathlon and did not want to exhaust themselves beforehand, so our club accounted for the entire men’s untimed 100 metres and almost all the women’s.

branicke-ledy-2016-018 — Braník Ice 2016. Photo: Petr Došek

The winners

Fides Brno swimmers took the first two men’s 1,000-metre places: winner Rostislav Vítek and runner-up Richard Nyáry. Our Jakub Valníček took the third podium place. The women’s kilometre followed a similar pattern: Fides swimmers Magda Okurková and Eliška Podmelová were first and second. Unfortunately, third was not ours — Radmila Srbová finished fourth — but went to Dana Zbořilová of Haná. The three fastest men over 750 metres were Jaromír Švestka, UnOl, Vladimír Hrbata, FiBr, and Lukáš Kalina, JPK. Our women took two of the three 750-metre podium places: behind winner Lenka Štěrbová came our Lucie Leišová second and Zuzana Procházková third.

After the prize ceremony and close of the competition, an excellent lunch awaited everyone at the Nádraží Braník restaurant. We members of the organising club first cleaned the borrowed facilities.

My traditional personal note to finish: being Jarmila, born on Jarmila’s name day, 4 February, I treated myself to this lovely swim and was delighted that the water was above four degrees, so I did not suffer. It was just a shame that snow did not line the banks. I did not miss the ice floes at all: they are treacherous.