Subscribe to trusted local news
In a time of both misinformation and too much information, quality journalism is more crucial than ever. By subscribing, you can help us get the story right.
- Subscription costs less than £1 a week with an annual plan.
Already a subscriber? Log in here.
13
Feb 2024
'It's just mind over matter' — meet the Harrogate ice swimming champions
Two ice swimming champions from Harrogate have talked about what drives them to succeed after plunging into one degree waters in Romania for the first ever European Ice Swimming Championship.
More than 300 athletes from 27 countries competed, including Harrogate athletes Millie Bell, 24 and Jonty Warneken, 51.
Ice swimming involves swimming in water in temperatures below five degrees and the season takes place December to March. There are hopes the fast-growing sport could be included in the Winter Olympics.
Jonty lost his leg in a car accident in 1994 aged 22 and ice swims alongside his job as head of office at Atomos financial services. He has been ice swimming for more than 10 years and is a board member and vice president of the International Ice Swimming Association. He achieved a Guinness world record in 2014 for being the the first disabled person to complete an ice mile swim.
In this month's event in Romania, he won two silver medals and a bronze, but his focus was more on the organisation of the event.
Talking about the impact of his disability, he said:
He added:
He says people often get involved for the swimming but stay because of the community.
Millie Bell and Jonty Warneken
British ice swimming champion Millie Bell, agrees. She says:
Millie competed in four events at the European Championships and achieved personal bests in all of the races. She won one silver, two bronze and finished fourth place in the 25-29 age bracket.
Now in her third season of ice swimming, she trains six times a week — four in an indoor pool and twice outdoors at Pool Bridge, York.
Millie trained with an indoor Harrogate district swimming club until she was 12 but “gave up because (she) wasn’t very good". She began swimming again as part of a triathlon group while at university in York and quickly realised her favourite element was swimming.
Her next project is a challenge she has set herself — swimming the English Channel in August this year. This will be a charity swim to raise money for Saint Michael’s Hospice and the charity Cosmic, which cares for babies and children in intensive care.
She said people often think ice swimmers are crazy:
0