I. plavecký klub otužilců Praha warmly invites you to the 72nd edition of the Christmas swimming event in the Vltava — the Alfred Nikodem Memorial.
This long-established and celebrated cold-water swimming event takes place on Wednesday 26 December 2018, Boxing Day, at 11:00 in the Vltava beside Prague’s National Theatre.
Swimmers from the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Belgium, England, Russia, the USA and Germany will take part. The course crosses the Vltava between Střelecký and Slovanský islands, with both start and finish on the bank of Slovanský Island. Distances are 100, 300 and 750 metres.
The Vltava will welcome leading swimmers with international honours alongside recreational cold-water swimmers, who chiefly enjoy healthy activity in winter water with equally enthusiastic friends. Numbers grow every year: after last year’s 377, this year’s total could approach four hundred.
The water is holding at around 5°C. With the usual Christmas thaw, swimmers are unlikely to earn their cold-water proficiency grades beside the National Theatre this year either. Those grades can only be earned in “ice water”, defined as water at or below 4°C.
The event again forms part of the Czech Union of Sport’s “Sportuj s námi” programme.
It is also supported by Mladá fronta a.s., Etewa s.r.o., SUPTel a.s., BYTOSTAV s.r.o., Fiskars, Agama Diving, Prague City Hall and the Prague 1 district, which co-organises the event.
For the seventh time, the organisers are including the Prague 1 Mayor’s Cup, based on the results of each club’s three best-placed swimmers. Newly elected Prague 1 Mayor Pavel Čižinský will present the cup in person.
All awards will again be presented in the ceremonial Small Hall of Žofín Palace. Czech Swimming Federation president Petr Ryška will attend, underlining the event’s sporting importance.
Further information, especially for swimmers, is available in the event programme (in Czech):
72nd Alfred Nikodém Memorial — event information ↗
Partners of the 72nd Alfred Nikodem Memorial
