It was not your usual afternoon at the pool as hardy souls took to the water yesterday.
The second day of the inaugural New Zealand National Ice Swimming Pool Championships saw swimmers compete in 100m, 250m, 500m and 1000m races at the Alexandra outdoor pool.
Chosen for its freezing winter temperatures, the water was warmer than anticipated, cutting short some of the afternoon races.
International ice swimming standards state water temperature must be below 5degC to be considered official, International Ice Swimming Association (IISA) Aotearoa New Zealand secretary Jono Ridler said.
"So [Sunday the water] was sitting at 3.5 [degrees] or so; pretty consistent. Today at the end of the day it was edging up just above five and it’s actually got to be below five degrees for it to be considered ice swimming.
"At the beginning of the day it was fine so we’ve actually had to cut short some of the swims we were planning for this afternoon," he said.
"It’s hovering around that five degree mark at the moment, which if you get 4.9 that’s actually quite perfect."
"We’re really just trying to get as many people through and into the event and into ice swimming.
"It’s a really new sport in New Zealand and we want to grow it as much as possible. We’ve had some really good swims today and we’ll have some really good swims tomorrow as well," he said.
"I’d love for more people to get involved, and don’t think of it as this fringe sport, I’d really like to get more pool swimmers here, people that maybe haven’t considered something like this."
The championships final swims take place this morning.
