Queenstowners Anneke Veenstra, 46, and Bethany Rogers, 36, and Arrowtowner Finn Henderson, 17, are competing in various distances and disciplines at the International Ice Swimming Association-sanctioned New Zealand and Oceania pool championships.
Rogers represented NZ’s Frozen Ferns and Veenstra her home country, the Netherlands, at the world ice swimming champs in Italy early last year, scooping three age-group medals each.
Although this Alexandra event acts as a qualifier for January’s worlds in Romania, Rogers is bound to prove her credentials, while Veenstra, who became a Dutch champion in the 500m and 250m freestyle last December, will again be competing for the Netherlands as she’s not a Kiwi citizen.
For Finn, a year 13 Wakatipu High student, these will be his first nationals. However, he ‘warmed up’ at last Saturday’s The RealNZ Whakatipu Legend winter swim in Queenstown Bay, winning the 500m wetsuit category — he had to wear a wetsuit due to his age.
"I wanted to take my swimming in a new direction to look for more challenges and meet new people," he says.
The ice swimming nationals
alternate with open water ice swimming nationals which were held in St Bathans, Central Otago, last year.
At those champs Veenstra and Rogers both swam what’s considered the sport’s ultimate challenge — the ice mile (1.6km) distance.
Rogers notes ice swimming’s an extreme sport — "I feel if you’re not already consistently swimming in the open water, it’s too much of a jump".
"It’s almost like at least a year’s worth of adaptation."
And without a wetsuit helping you to float, "you don’t have any of that assistance, and if your breathing’s wrong, you start sinking". And then there’s the dreaded ‘afterdrop’ where your core body temperature continues to drop for 20 to 45 minutes after you get out of the freezing water.
"You want to warm up pretty quickly — wet stuff off, dry stuff on," Rogers says.
