Swimming At Midnight In Ice(land)
Kristinn Magnússon of the Þingvallasund swim in Lake Þingvellir, Iceland is gearing up to attract a number of foreign swimmers for the 5K swim in 11°C (51.8°F) water at midnight. The initial idea for a swim across came from Fylkir Sævarsson in 2000 – who later completed the swim.
Like many places around the world, the Icelandic open water swimming community is growing – but there was local trepidation about swimming in Lake Þingvallavatn where a local folktale (“Everything that goes down Lake Þingvallavatn never comes up again“) held sway.
But Fylkir stayed on the surface and proved the folktale false.
Linguistic note: Þ = th (same pronunication for the Icelandic letter.
Copyright © 2010 by Steven Munatones
Southern California native, born 1962, is the creator of the WOWSA Awards, Oceans Seven, Openwaterpedia, Citrus Corps, World Open Water Swimming Association, Daily News of Open Water Swimming, Global Open Water Swimming Conference. He is Chief Executive Officer of KAATSU Global and KAATSU Research Institute. Inductee in the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame (Honor Swimmer, Class of 2001) and Ice Swimming Hall of Fame (Honor Contributor - Media, Class of 2019), recipient of the International Swimming Hall of Fame's Poseidon Award (2016), International Swimming Hall of Fame's Irving Davids-Captain Roger Wheeler Memorial Award (2010), USA Swimming's Glen S. Hummer Award (2007, 2010) and Harvard University's John B. Imrie Award (1984). Served on the FINA Technical Open Water Swimming Committee and as Technical Delegate with the 2011 Special Olympics World Summer Games, and 9-time USA Swimming coaching staff.
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