Ice Cup Poland – although the heat outside the window, it’s time to start training

August is the month when up to several hundred winter swimmers begin to prepare for the opening of the season in Poland. Despite the hot weather, the day begins to shorten, and mornings can be chilly as well. This is the best time to start training. Today it’s already September, which makes the aura all the more conducive to the sport. So let’s listen to a conversation with the creator of the winter swimming competition series. Lukasz and I have known each other for many years, and I am sure he will share with us many interesting facts about his passion. The interview with Lukasz Tkacz is conducted by Leszek Naziemiec.

Leszek Naziemiec: You are the creator and coordinator of the Ice Cup Poland venture. Before we move on to the cup itself, I would ask you to introduce your readers to the subject of winter swimming. What does the sport consist of?

Lukasz Tkacz: In principle, winter swimming is very similar to swimming familiar to readers from the Summer Olympics. We have identical swimming suits and similar distances to cover. What differs is the water temperature and the lack of architectural restrictions. We don’t need big sports halls and crystal clear water – just a bigger pond, which can be at the proverbial end of the world. As for the temperature, we swim in such as nature will grace us with… It can even be negative temperature water (-0.5°C; competition in Puck on December 9, 2023), as well as hot – 11°C (11.5°C; competition in Lodz on November 4, 2023). One can joke that the sport itself is not a novelty at all. What is new are the conditions in which it takes place.

L.N.: What are the rules of the Ice Cup Poland? Who can participate in such competitions?

L.T.: I‘ ll answer a little perversely that only those who want to participate in the Ice Cup Poland can participate… The first and most important criterion is “willingness”. The second issue is the restriction on swimwear, which must be strictly summer – it is forbidden to compete in those made of neoprene. Of course, if we have health problems, such as circulatory, it is worthwhile to consult our idea with a specialist, since one of the formal requirements of the ICP is a doctor’s consent to participate in this type of competition. As for age – the lower limit is 16 years (the consent of the legal guardian is necessary).

L.N.: Suppose I swim twice a week recreationally at the swimming pool. What should I do to become a winter swimmer?

L.T.: Oh, it’s a river topic… I‘ ll try to gather the basics. A good place to start is walruses. It allows you to get to know how your body reacts to contact with “crisp” water. We have an elaborate club scheme, in which we start with novices with one minute in the water. These 60 seconds are enough for them to embrace with their minds what has just happened, i.e. momentary muscle pains (calves, back, forearms) and to equalize and calm their breathing. From years of observation, I can say that most people calm down after 40 seconds in the water. With each subsequent entry we add another minute. Of course, there are some people, even quite a few, who can start immediately with 10 minutes, because adaptation to the cold is a very individual matter – that’s why at club training we choose the method of slow adaptation.

It is better to lead a “resistant” person in small steps than to lead an irresistant one too quickly and kill his enthusiasm for this beautiful sport. Muscle and nail pains pass as adaptation progresses, and you may find that by the 3rd entry they are already much less – the most important thing is regularity. When you reach 5 minutes in the water, you start swimming – remember that the rules of physics cannot be fooled, and by moving, you give off heat much faster, and although you do work, the amount of energy you lose is then much higher than if you stand still.

Now a little about security:

1. it’s always a good idea to swim using a belay buoy – in difficult situations you can grab onto it and rest, and most importantly, in case of a serious crisis it marks the spot where you are underwater (rescuers don’t have to waste precious time searching);
2. Swimming with a companion improves mental comfort, but also provides support, for example, when dressing.

L.N.: At what distances are the competitions swum? How is the scoring built?

L.T.: The distances in ICP are between 25 and 1,000 meters. Standard races are held at 25, 50, 100, 250, 500, 750 and 1000 m. The rules that have been developed allow competitions to be held at non-standard distances, such as 350m. Distances up to 250 m I would recommend to novices. I would add that you should not be discouraged by your time compared to the winner – very often at short distances we can admire professional swimmers, known for their performances at Polish, European and even World Championships, which are held at standard swimming pools.

Scoring in the overall classification includes the sum of the points earned from half of the competitions of the season + 1 – for example, out of 10 competitions, it is the 6 best results. The score from a given competition is influenced by distance and water temperature – of course, the colder, the more points. Full information can be obtained at www.icp.pl/zasady/.

L.N.: Is it a risky sport? Do athletes get into dangerous hypothermia?

L.T.: Hypothermia is an inseparable companion of winter swimming. And what exactly is it? In a nutshell, it’s a condition in which the body has to take extra steps to restore normal body temperature, such as by shivering muscles. Medicine describes 3 degrees of hypothermia (a 5-point scale is also encountered). For winter swimmers, it is very important not to exceed the second degree – this is the limit from behind which we are still able to return to “normalcy” on our own or with a little help.

On the rules and regulations side of the Ice Cup Poland, several restrictions have been introduced, such as sport classes, which guide competitors through the stages, not allowing novices to start at longer distances. The maximum time in the water is also limited to 25 minutes. Every competition must be secured by teams of water lifeguards and paramedics with an ambulance. Everything else is in the competitor’s mind. It is important to realize that below a certain temperature and during a sufficiently long exposure time, the amount of heat generated by muscle work will be less than the amount taken away by the water.

The rate of heat loss is a very individual matter and is affected by many factors, including. The temperature of the water, the quantity and quality of body fat, and disposition. It should be remembered that water conducts heat about 25 times faster than air. As a result of our complex anatomy, calculating what is the difference in the effect of water at 7°C and that at 3°C is insanely difficult, if not impossible. A very common sight is extreme attitudes, i.e. at a water temperature of, say, 5°C, one will come out after 20 minutes, put on flip-flops and go for a walk, while another after only 12 will be “shaking like a jelly”, asking for help in getting dressed.

Therefore, it is important in this discipline not to suggest the achievements of others, because the key is to know one’s own limitations and the body’s reaction to cold water. In winter swimming, the saying “everyone is the blacksmith of his own fate” is a very literal maxim – no judge or lifeguard knows what is going on in the head of the athlete, and there, after all, the will to fight may already be extinguished. Any sensible person can independently mitigate the risks associated with the negative effects of hypothermia. It is important that he read about it – learn about its stages, effects and management, and listen to his body.

Concluding about hypothermia, I would like to add that during my 12-year amateur adventure in winter swimming, I witnessed several interventions by the emergency services, and each time they were the result of bad decisions by the swimmer himself – choosing too long a distance or deciding too late to call for help… So you can risk saying that this is a relatively safe sport.

L.N.: Is it safe to hold competitions on rivers in winter?

L.T.: Rivers are a very challenging arena for preparing competitions. The first major problem is the current of the water – if it is strong, it can carry competitors away from the finish area. Another very common problem is the limited possibility of going to the shore (steep, slippery banks or dense vegetation on them), especially when 1000m is swum in a continuous course, without dividing the route into loops. Remnants of human interference – concrete, rebar, car parts, shipwrecks – are also a serious problem.

On the other hand, the river does not freeze as quickly as the ponds, so we have a larger window of time to choose the date of the competition. There is also a huge positive aesthetic value – the river in winter offers a fabulously beautiful outdoors. So, assuming that we properly prepare the competition route, safety precautions and rework emergency scenarios, competitions on the river will be just as safe as in a pond, and the participant’s fun incomparably greater.

L.N.: What does winter swimming give you personally? Why do you do it?

L.T.: For me, winter swimming is a break from the comfortable life of a city dweller and his daily problems. Together with the team from the Silesia Winter Swimming Sports Club, we do some of our training on weekends, almost in the middle of the night, that is, at 7 am. Often, in fact every time, I have to fight the voice in my head that temptingly whispers “don’t go today, get some sleep today.” Well, and there is no denying it, I have succumbed a few times. I always stay in the cold water for more than 20 minutes, so coming out I have hypothermia between the first and second stages described in medicine. Thanks to this, thoughts of the pain of everyday life disappear, because there is room in the head for only one, the most important thing – to warm up.

In this state, I love to go for a long walk in the snow in my green “lackies”. When I return home, I feel a powerful boost of energy, comparable to the effects of taking pharmacological stimulants, and then I usually take to cleaning the apartment. Of course, if I’m at a competition, I’m very keen to use the shortcut in warming up my body – the sauna. This allows me to return to “normalcy” in a few minutes, so I can watch the losses of other participants. And if I have already mentioned competitions, winter swimming gives me the opportunity to interact with people with whom I share a common, not easy passion.

And interestingly enough, these are people from all walks of life, working in very different professions. When standing in bathing suits, social status is not important, because in a moment a millionaire, a professor, a doctor or a forklift operator will experience the same pain of returning to normal body temperature. There is also an economic aspect – prolonged exposure to the cold and the associated adaptation allows you to save on clothes, because summer shoes, long pants, a T-shirt, a spring jacket are enough, and a person is ready to go out even in the harsh cold. And since I am a person who is very connected with water, ice swimming allows me to extend the season, giving me the opportunity to admire the beauty of all seasons from the water.

L.N.: Do you have a favorite swim route, perhaps a crossing that you recall?

L.T.: I had the opportunity to participate in the “Vistula Odyssey” project, conceived by my friend Leszek Naziemiec. We sailed side by side along the entire Vistula River, from the Goczałkowicki reservoir to the mouth of the sea in Mikoszewo. It took us 2.5 years. During this period, almost every free day was devoted to the Vistula… I had the opportunity to admire its diversity: from a narrow river, through a shallow rocky section, a spillway 2.5 km wide before Wloclawek, to the boundlessness on the horizon at the mouth of the sea.

And since I live in a big concrete city and have a bit of a spring in my step, I am simply enchanted by the stunning nature that mostly leads us away from civilization. I have a wealth of diverse images in my mind: Vistula on which it is snowing, Vistula in a downpour that limits visibility to a few meters, Vistula at sunrise and sunset, in the darkness of a winter evening, Vistula on which it is blowing so hard that waves with bangs form, the tops of which are carried away by the whirlwind. I think that if it had been given to Mr. Adam Mickiewicz to see it, the descriptions would have been endless.

During the Odyssey I was able to meet many interesting people for whom the Vistula is more than just a river – they live its life. For several years now, I have been running a project called “Expeditions to the Water”, as part of which I take swimmers to different sections of the Vistula River, so that they can experience at least a substitute of what Leszek and I experienced. The expeditions are always organized in mid-June. The state of the river is then relatively stable, and the water temperature allows to swim long stretches of several hours – all those interested are invited to follow my profile on Facebook.

L.N.: Do you have a vision of how the Ice Cup Poland and swimming in Poland should function in the future?

L.T.: If I have to talk about the future, it might be worth starting with how it all began… In December 2010, while at work, I threw out loud “I would maybe try walruses”. Sylwia Naziemiec, sitting next to me, countered: “My boyfriend swims in cold water, so I can set you up with him,” and that’s how I met Leszek Naziemiec, Marek Grzywa, Artur Kubica and Andrzej Lampa – they were already competing in the Czech Republic at the time. My first start at a competition in winter swimming was on January 15, 2011. in Náchod (250m distance), after which I decided that this sport is great. Together with the guys, we started traveling around the Czech Republic and gaining experience in winter swimming.

The Czechs already had hundreds of swimmers in more than a dozen sports clubs. After several years of such travels, dreaming of a Polish equivalent of the cup, we decided to organize the first 1 km competition in Poland. On February 26, 2014. all Polish swimmers, ready at that moment to face this challenge – that is, all 4 of them – showed up at the start. The next step was the establishment in 2015. Sports Club Silesia Winter Swimming to have a legal personality, which ensured more serious treatment by various types of institutions.

I laid the cornerstone for the ICP on September 25, 2016, with a message on the Club’s Facebook profile stating “We are creating a Polish winter swimming league Ice Cup Poland. We invite all Organizers of winter swimming competitions to cooperate”. The first season of ICP was 2016/2017, where only 2 organizers joined the cup: Katowice and Swietochlowice. Due to the lack of interest, no further seasons were organized, nevertheless, I still held talks and persuaded to create the Cup.

The next development milestone took place on September 12, 2020. At the Municipal House of Culture in Deblin. With the great help and commitment of Piotr Switaj, a meeting of organizers of winter swimming competitions was held there, at which I managed to persuade a larger group to associate in Ice Cup Poland and it took off.

At the moment we have 10 permanent organizers and we are still in talks with those willing to join. This year the ICP Council was formed, which includes representatives of organizers who are also active competitors. The Council’s meetings decide on the shape of the Cup and on August 1, 2024. we released the update of the ICP regulations, developed jointly. Thanks to the funds collected from membership fees, we have the opportunity for further development, and for the 2024/2025 season we have ordered an entire IT combine – a platform for managing the Cup: from enrollment to the calculation of points and publication of results.

As for my vision is Ice Cup Poland? It is to remain a zone for all winter swimmers, from novices to professional pool swimmers, moving towards professionalizing the competition from the technical side. My dream is for the Cup to consist of 20 rounds, to cover the entire winter calendar with competitions. This is what we are moving towards.

L.N.: Thank you for the interview!