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First Prague Cold-Water Swimming Club

The oldest and largest cold-water swimming club in the Czech Republic

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Our autumn triple event, 2018

On the customary fourth Sunday in September, we held the club’s autumn work party. So many volunteers arrived that, in two hours, they cleaned both changing rooms from floor to ceiling, prepared a pile of firewood for the coming swimming season and tidied the clubhouse garden. There was sweeping, weeding and leaf-raking everywhere. Foundations were also laid for a lovely illustrated outdoor map, which member Lada Kratochvílová arranged for the club on favourable terms. The map stands in the clubhouse garden beside the cycle path. Read more…

Lucie Skokanová-Mertová, Petr Tomášek ·

The 10th Gaston Memorial, 2018

On Saturday 25 August, 56 swimmers, including 17 women, set off from Ústí nad Labem to Děčín in the country’s longest swimming race. The course runs 25 kilometres from below the Ústí lock to the finish beneath Děčín Castle. Conditions were favourable: the air was around 22°C and the water almost as warm. The only disadvantage was the Elbe’s flow, which was close to its historic minimum. Some participants could see this for themselves in Děčín at the so-called Hunger Stone, visible only during exceptionally dry periods. Read more…

Jaroslava Vatalová, Petr Tomášek ·

Susan’s English Channel

I decided to share the story of my daughter Zuzka Procházková’s 2018 English Channel swim from the perspective of her mother, accompanying her on the journey.

“Well, I’ve paid the deposit…” Those words from Zuzka at Christmas 2015 began the journey towards her dream of swimming the English Channel.

It was a long, wonderful journey, with plenty for Zuzka to learn. Those of us around her sometimes wondered how it would turn out. She had no swimming background or experience. Surely she ought to do this and avoid that… But that is Zuzka: independent, clear-headed and focused on the goal ahead. Read more…

Pavlína Procházková, Petr Tomášek ·

The English Channel there and back — Rosťa Vítek reflects

My Channel project was intended to show everyone who swims what really happens there and what it is like. That was also why I asked people to contribute.

Several factors affected my solo attempt.

The main one was that, on that fateful day, the skipper should not have let me enter the water; we should have waited for better weather.

Once again, the Channel proved to be more about luck than preparation.

I had trained enough and felt good.

The weather did not cooperate. During the swim I considered what to do next: take a risk, or reach France calmly and decide there whether to return to England.

I chose not to push my luck. During the ten-minute break, the weather conditions led me to decide against continuing the battle. Read more…

Rostislav Vítek ·

North Channel — two-way relay CZECH IT!!

We did it! Our team — in swimming order — was Petr Šlajs, Rory Fitzgerald, Zuzana Procházková, Zdeněk Sláma, Jakub Valníček and Pavlína Procházková. We completed the two-way swim from Northern Ireland to Scotland and back, 75 kilometres in total, in an incredible 22 hours 59 minutes, improving the existing record by more than five hours. The relay consisted mainly of Czech swimmers who are also members of I. plavecký klub otužilců Praha (I. PKO). Read more…

Petr Tomášek ·

No summer break for cold-water swimmers: June’s work party, time trial and campfire

Even in summer, Prague’s I. PKO cold-water swimmers train regularly in the cool Vltava, whose temperature has yet to exceed 15°C despite the hot days. On Friday 22 June 2018, they met not only to swim but also to improve their Braník clubhouse. They painted the changing rooms, cleared the gutters and prepared firewood for winter, so that swimmers can warm themselves beside the stove after cold-weather training. Read more…

Jaroslava Vatalová ·

I. PKO Praha’s Rostislav Vítek prepares for a two-way English Channel swim

TWO-WAY ENGLISH CHANNEL CHALLENGE

And now the important question: when does it all begin?

My swim window is 2–12 July 2018. During that period I will be in Dover, waiting for the most favourable conditions.

The English Channel’s demanding conditions make it one of the world’s toughest crossings.

But why swim only from England to France, when I have already done that?

I have therefore set myself a greater challenge: to attempt a double crossing in one go — roughly eighty kilometres, though probably more, thanks to those notorious currents. Read more…

Petr Tomášek ·

Will this teacher swim the English Channel?

She has a lifelong dream: to swim the English Channel between France and England. After four years of planning, teacher Zuzana Procházková, 26, from Hořovice in the Beroun district, may fulfil it this summer. A member of I. plavecký klub otužilců Praha, how is she preparing for the 34-kilometre crossing? Read more…

Petr Tomášek ·

4th Ice Swimming Aqua Sphere German Open

Updated 28 May 2018 with Nikola Kopecká’s video.

In autumn 2017, I asked all our winter swimmers to consider entering the competition in Germany. Held in early January, it is very well organised and attracts many international swimmers. I also wrote to everyone about Estonia, which hosts this year’s IWSA World Championships. Only a few I. PKO members entered the German event; 27 of us are going to Tallinn.

We left for Germany on the morning of Friday 5 January, a journey of about three hours. Everyone was ready at the agreed meeting time. Our penultimate Czech stop was a petrol station in Hořovice, where we collected Pavlína Procházková. Our team was now complete: Niki Kopecká, Vicky Mori, Mama Mori, Pavlína Procházková, Honza Bendl, Zdeněk Sláma and me. Read more…

Jakub Valníček ·

Czech Winter Swimming Championships 2018 — freestyle, Brno, 10 February

On Saturday 10 February 2018, 151 swimmers gathered in Brno-Bystrc for the Czech Championships and Czech Winter Swimming Cup. Under race director Michal Moravec and the organising FIDES Brno club, the event ran superbly and to everyone’s complete satisfaction. Many thanks to all the organisers.

The Svratka is challenging every year. This time, the water was 1.8°C and the air 1.0°C. Watching swimmers leave the water after finishing, every spectator could see how demanding the swim had been. My thanks also go to everyone who helped competitors before their starts and after their swims. Such help is a gesture of friendship that often crosses club boundaries. Read more…

Pavlína Procházková, Petr Tomášek ·