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Meet the Human Ice Bear Who Trains in the Lakes of Snowdonia and Swims the Planet

Posted on: Monday, 6 March 2006, 09:00 CST

By Gareth Morgan Western Mail

Scientists at icy World Championships this weekend will study man who can think his body warmer THE icy waters of the Welsh mountains have been used to help train the human body to cope with challenging cold swims in sub-zero temperatures. This weekend sees the annual Winter World Swimming Championships being held in Oulu in Finland, and thousands will flock to the carnival atmosphere.

It is as much a chance for madcap antics in freezing waters as serious sporting competition. But one man who will be taking the occasion very seriously is Lewis Gordon Pugh, a South African now living in the UK.

Pugh is known as the Ice Bear and has braved some of the roughest and coldest waters in the world in a series of record-breaking swims.

He is a lawyer based in London and uses the closest supply of icy cold water for his specialist training in this case the freezing lakes of Snowdonia.

Pugh said he returned to his roots for training his family hail from the Brecon and Builth Wells area despite him being born in South Africa.

Snowdonia is definitely the best place in Britain to train. I have been there this week and it was very cold, he said. There is a little lake near Llanberis which is ideal for my purposes.

This weekend he is taking on the entire Russian relay team plus Colonel Vladimir Ljutov of the Russian Army.

Its a huge challenge, but Im going to do my very best to beat them off. Ive taken on the Arctic and the Antarctic, and surely nothing could be more challenging than that.

And he is on a very serious mission compared to the many swimmers who will turn out in fancy dress.

Wearing just Speedos, a swim cap and goggles, Pugh will help test the science of cold water swimming with himself as the guinea pig.

Professor Tim Noakes, of the Sports Science Institute of South Africa, has been accompanying Pugh on his swims and has observed an amazing trend he has dubbed anticipatory thermogenesis. Prof Noakes determined that Pugh has a unique ability to raise his body temperature to nearly 39C, just by visualising the swim ahead of him.

He said, The challenge of swimming in all five oceans is rooted in the limitations of human physiology.

There are very few swimmers in the world that can complete a long- distance swim in the Arctic or Antarctic in just a Speedo.

Most swimmers would be disabled within seconds of just diving into the water.

Pugh has been able to do this because he has a unique ability to raise his core body temperature in anticipation of swimming in extreme cold water.

Finnish scientists will join in the study during this weekends swimming championships.

Dr Juha Oksa of the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health hailed the chance to study the Cape swimmer alongside Russian and Finnish competitors as a real coup.

Having Lewis here gives us the unique opportunity to make further headway on this and other sports science experiments that have already turned up fascinating findings, he said.

There are hopes that the incredible athlete will set more records during the course of the games.

Afterwards Pugh will return to work in London, with regular training in Snowdonia to keep up his fitness, and while the scientists turn to number crunching Pugh will simply be searching for the next improbable challenge.

Revealing what drives him he said, I never do the same swim twice, unless it is for training.

The next swim must be harder and more challenging, otherwise I am going backwards.

Sometimes we set boundaries for ourselves in life, or even worse, we allow others to do so. In many cases, these boundaries are just in our mind and need to be pushed away.

Theres something magical about swimming in all five oceans of the world.

Already nearly 100 mountaineers have done the Seven Summits, and itll be fascinating to see how many swimmers take up this, the ultimate of challenges.

BIG CHILL Long distance swimmer Lewis Gordon Pugh in action during one of two swimming attempts in the cold water off the arctic archipelago Svalbard, with the Monaco Glacier in the background

The stadium is built of snow, ice and other natural materials: The World Championships in Winter Swimming take place in Oulu during the first weekend of March. It may seem like absolute insanity but the Finns have taken strange traditions like ice swimming to obsession status.

Among the participating countries are Finland, Great Britain, Germany, Belgium, Sweden, Norway, Russia, Estonia and Latvia. Organisers are expecting more than 1,000 participants. The actual World Championships competition day is today although the festival stretches over a weekend.

In addition to the competition series (25m races), there are also three non-competitive series named after animals like polar bears and seals.

The stadium is built of snow, ice and other natural materials.

In the stadium area there is an international market place, a sauna in an igloo and a number of hot tubs.

Last night the ceremonies were kick-started with the Tar Torch Swimming Relay which saw teams of four swimmers competing over a 100m course.

All participants are awarded a World Championships medal.

The final day of the competition is tomorrow, when there is a colourful team swimming show with prize money of 1,000 euros up for grabs.

Source: Western Mail

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