Dr. Sean Gottschalk, the Race Medical Officer of the Lighthouse to Big Bay Swim, gathered data on the 10.5 km swimmers before and after the swim in 13°C water in order to help assess cases of hypothermia. “The intention is to grow this database in order to increase safety and knowledge in the sport of open water swimming.”

Dr. Gottschalk also gathers the data to help swimmers get a better understanding of their own physiological changes in the cold water. He also pools everyone’s data together to analyse changes in the group as a whole and compare individuals to the average. The average pre-race body temperature was 36.8ºC (98.2ºF) and the average post-race body temperature was 33.7ºC (92.6ºF) for an average drop of in temperature of 3.1ºC (5.6ºF).

The average pre-race heart rate was 73 beats per minute and the average post-race heart rate was 94 beats per minute for an average change of 21 beats per minute.

Top 15 Results:

1. Bryan Allott 2:30:29
2. Emma Alsop 2:37:03
3. Richard Willmore 2:41:11
4. Lisa Cowling :45:13
5. Herman Van Der Westhuizen 2:51:10
6. Tjaart de Wit 3:03:58
7. Buff van Westenbrugge 3:06:49
8. Monica Hayes 3:08:07
9. Rouen Smit 3:08:32
10. Phillip Dempster 3:09:08
11. Luke Wrightman 3:10:28
12. Cecilia Schutte 3:11:37
13. Patrick Thomas 3:16:44
14. Raymond Connell 3:20:45
15. Tim Stiff 3:22:08

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