Even at the height of summer, winter swimmers are not short of serious challenges. In early August, forty swimmers from fourteen countries, including the Czech Republic, will attempt an intercontinental relay from Russia to the USA.
Strong ocean currents will probably extend the 85-kilometre route across the Bering Strait to more than 100 kilometres. Swimmers will face icy waves and water around 3°C without wetsuits. No comparable relay has crossed the strait before, so success would earn an entry in the Guinness Book of Records.
To limit hypothermia risk, swimmers will take turns of around twenty minutes, separated by ten-hour breaks. Each will therefore complete three or four legs. Preliminary plans call for departure from Cape Dezhnev in Chukotka on 4 August, arriving at Cape Prince of Wales, Alaska, after approximately 40–50 hours of swimming.
Through this enormous organisational and sporting effort, the swimmers hope to show that relations between Russia and America can remain warm and friendly despite the icy water separating them.
Two I. PKO Praha members will take part: Britain’s Jack Bright, who served on the organising committee in previous years, and Zdeněk Tlamicha, the only Czech swimmer.
We wish them good weather, icy water and plenty of luck!
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