Ice swimmer warms to the challenge

A LOCAL international ice swimmer turned up the heat to finish second at the sport’s World Championships held in Germany. 

DIT Property Economics student Conor Turner (22), from Santry, specialises at the 1km mark and holds the world record in the 18-24 age group.

He was a member of the very successful 15-strong Irish team who travelled over to Berghausen, the second largest group to compete in the competition which took place last month.

Ice swimmers compete in water temperatures at below five degrees Celsius which begs the question, why does he do it? 

“All the time I get asked that and I don’t actually know because it is not a pleasant experience before, during or after,” says Conor, who also works in the National Lottery.

“It does give you a good sense of accomplishment and I like to compare it with something like a marathon.”

Conor, who comes from a family of swimmers, has competed internationally since he was 13. He moved to the colder water just over a year ago after coming across the sport in extreme-sport obsessed magazine Red Bull. He  was formally introduced to ice swimming by Ger Kennedy, pioneer for the sport in Ireland.

Conor took to ice swimming like a duck to water as he already partakes in a lot of sea swims during the summer, where the water can be still quite cold. 

“The cold doesn’t really seem to bother me. I don’t really feel it that bad and it doesn’t affect me that much so I thought I’d give it a go,” he tells Northside People. 

Wild Water Armagh holds the only outdoor pool cold enough in Ireland to host such an event, so Conor trains regularly with a club under regular conditions at the National Aquatic Centre (NAC).

Despite swimming in temperatures dangerous for the human body, Conor says hyperthermia is unlikely due to the supervision and precautions present at events. 

“You have to have an ECG before you go in and the doctors check your blood pressure and heart rates. After the swim with recovery is equally important in raising your core temperature back to normal properly.

“People sometimes jump into the hot tubs too quickly and that’s where the problems occur. I think a few people had to go to hospital at the World Championships because they didn’t recover properly,” he says. 

But it is the risk and extremity which Conor feels could push its way into the Winter Olympic Games, describing ice swimming as a “good spectator sport that fits in with the Olympics’ description”.

“Even from the time I’ve been in it, the sport has grown so fast that it is a very realistic goal. 

“In Sochi 2014, they had a test event after the Olympics so they must be keen or even interested to try and get it in,” he adds.

Conor timed at an impressive 12 minutes 42 seconds in Germany but feels he can produce much more and will seek to better his previous time in Armagh at the Irish Ice Swimming World Championships.

REPORT: Brein McGinn