Event staff break up ice which covered the competition pool Photo: Supplied
- Taranaki swimmer Madeline Hobo is at the sixth International Ice Swimming Association world championships in Molveno in Northern Italy
- Ice swimmers compete in water temperatures below 5 degrees centigrade
- Hobo is the junior world 500m freestyle record holder
- New Zealand is represented by 14 swimmers and two medics in Molveno
Event organisers had to take to a frozen pool with pick axes before Taranaki swimmer Madeline Hobo could secure the junior 500m freestyle title at the International Ice Swimming Association world championships in Molveno in Northern Italy.
The Stratford-based 16-year-old - who already holds the junior world record for the same event - said her start time had to be put back because the 50m pool was frozen over.
"So the competition was supposed to start at 8:30 this morning, but they delayed it till 9:00 because there's a two-inch layer of ice along the top that had formed overnight. They had actually removed the ice the day before, but it had frozen over again overnight.
"They literally had, like, a man in a dry suit walking the length of the pool looking for shards of ice to pull out."
Taranaki swimmer Madeline Hobo takes to the cold pool in Molveno. Photo: Supplied / James Allen
Ice swimmers compete in water that is below 5 degrees centigrade and more than 500 athletes from 35 countries are competing in Italy.
Hobo said the Molveno pool was a chilly 2 degrees centigrade.
"When we first got here I think it was 1.3° and then it dropped to 0.9 and then to 0.7 and then to 0.6. But since they've removed the ice, I think the temperatures climbed up again. We don't actually have an official temperature as of today. They will be giving them out at the end of the week, but rumour has it it's around 2°."
Hobo said swimmers enter the water via wooden ladders to await starting orders, so that their hands do not freeze to the rails.
"So the command is 'take off your clothes, enter the water', and then they'll say 'on your marks' and then a beep will go and the swimmers will go off. So you have about 10-15 seconds to actually get in the water dip, acclimatise yourself before those starting commands begin."
And it was chilly.
Taranaki ice swimmer Madeline Hobo. Photo: Supplied
"It feels cold as you would expect. My fingers get a little tingly around 200 metres, but I actually found today okay. I had a really good recovery, which was nice, but yeah, it's hard to describe."
Hobo lined up in one of 15 heats for the 500m free.
"Because the 500m is such a long and kind of dangerous race, they only swim it once, so there is no finals, so they have heats that go from the slowest to the fastest.
"I was in heat 15, which was the last of the woman's heats. So I was swimming against seven other swimmers, but there are actually no other junior females (under 18) competing in this event."
She did not trouble her world record set at Alexandra last year, but there was a silver lining.
"My time for that was 7 minutes and 14 1/2 seconds. I did not come anywhere close to that today, but that's okay. I'm still really happy with how I raced and I am still junior world champion. That was a bit of a shock, but great that I got to do that."
Madeline Hobo in the pool at the champs. Photo: Supplied / James Allen
There are 14 swimmers and two medics in the New Zealand team at Molveno and Kerikeri's Amelia Finer came second overall in the 500m freestyle behind a German athlete, setting a world age-group record for the 18-24 division in the process.
Hobo said as part of the recovery process after swimmers compete they transfer to a pool - with a minder - that has a temperature of about 25 degree C before being checked out and given the all clear by a medical team.
The teenager got invited to try ice swimming after it was noticed she competed in open ocean swims without a wetsuit.
"They said you're halfway there you should try out ice swimming. So yeah, that's kind of what got me into it. That's quite similar for a lot of ice swimmers. They're often come from swimming backgrounds, whether that's competitive swimming, but usually more kind of open water, marathon swimming where you have to learn to acclimatise for the cold."
Event staff break up ice which covered the competition pool. Photo: Supplied
Hobo did some of her training at Wilkies Pools on Taranaki Maunga and in streams in the central North Island, and said it took a certain kind of person to tackle ice swimming.
"I think a common misconception about ice swimming is that it's about all about physical ability. I think it's definitely a huge mental game. You've got to have the mentality to push yourself and keep your body moving, because if you do get stuck in your head, it can affect your performance.
"I try to tell myself that cold is a mindset because I think it really is a what you think about the water kind of affects how quickly are to get in it or how quick you are to get out of it.
"It's a hard pill to swallow, but eventually, after a bit of training, you do realise that the best way to go about it is actually just to get straight in. You know, like no mucking around, and usually first in is first out, right".
Madeline Hobo acclimatising with Australia swimmer Peta Bradley (white cap). Photo: Supplied
Hobo reckoned ice swimming had a great future.
"I think it's a really growing sport. I would really like to see ice swimming go to the Olympics and in that case I'm not really sure where my future lies necessarily as a swimmer, but I would definitely aspire to be a manager for the team one day. I think we've got real great team culture and I would really like to just kind of foster that."
The competition was not over for Hobo.
The teenager swims the 250m freestyle, 100m freestyle, 200m individual medley and 100m backstroke before competition ends on Saturday.
