On 26 June 2015 we held our traditional pre-holiday “triathlon”: a work party, a club trial and a campfire.
The work party was a relaxed affair. Our main tasks were to clean the well, saw up a fallen branch that had narrowly missed the clubhouse, mow the grass and clear out unused items inside. Brave Ota Zemek tackled the hardest and riskiest job: cleaning the well. He volunteered to climb down a ladder and stood waist-deep in water clearing the debris. Buckets brought up water, soil and dirt. Thoroughly chilled, he emerged after about an hour and went to wash in the Vltava. Apparently, the well water was no warmer than the river! Things look promising for the well: water is flowing into it.
The work party was followed by the club trial, with 43 swimmers, mostly from I. PKO. The Vltava was 14.0°C. Half of the 750-metre course was upstream and half downstream. It was a pleasant swim in a calm river with little current.
Pavel Mužíček won the men’s race ahead of Jiří Habel, with Jakub Valníček third. The women’s winner was Tereza Reichová, followed by Jitka Vachtová and Barbora Fleissigová.
Club-trial results, 26 June 2015
After the trial, we lit the campfire, roasted sausages, sang and chatted. Tomáš Prokop also celebrated his fortieth birthday and invited everyone to an “extra triathlon”: Jameson, Pilsner and sausages. We wished him a happy birthday, good health and many more years of swimming. Our pooled gift was a balloon flight for two; he also received plenty of bottles of various alcoholic delights and a handmade, glazed picture on a cold-water swimming theme. He was delighted. The evening’s friendly, relaxed atmosphere was accompanied by Michal Kohoutek and Michal Štengl on guitars, with Jiří Serafín on violin. Beer flowed from the tap, and we carried on well into the night.
I. PKO’s gifts for Tomáš Prokop’s fortieth birthday:
Jitka Vachtová’s photo gallery:
