Winter Swimming World Champs - Part IV

Congratulations if you've made it this far - I barely have myself. But here we are at the fourth and final installment of this Arctic Lappish World Champs wheeze.

The last day of races had a fun, end-of-term feel, not least thanks to the collective hangover following the previous night's dinner and dance (and in our case the hard local liquor the night before that). Moreover, all individual events were now done and dusted, leaving the much more jovial affair of relay racing.

But oh no! Relay teams had to be mixed gender, and not one of the Brockwell Icicle boys was present. Who would come to the rescue of 8 Icicle damsels in distress..?

Enter Josef of Austria, in training for cross-Channel swim, recent completer of the hallowed Ice Mile challenge and general knight in shining speedos, who set us girls a-flutter:

When we informed him of our team name he considered for a second and then cheered "Go Broccoli Team!" which seemed entirely in keeping with the Brockwell Way.

We hastily cobbled together a team of Josef, me, Noelene and Talya, ready to take on the 4 x 25m freestyle relay challenge:

Broccoli Team

All that remained was to kit Josef out with an Icicles hat:

and we were all set to race.

We were placed in lane 8, one lane in from the far side, with Josef taking on the first length followed by me, then Noelene, then Talya in the glory seat...

Waters were more than a little choppy with swimmers passing every which way, but taking up Josef's momentum I came in 2 seconds quicker than yesterday's race time, and remembered to look our for the bottom of the river (which was black and bumpy).

The beady-eyed among you may have noticed that impatient Talya *might* have put in a *slightly* early appearance for the final leg, but dare I say it's the Brockwell Way?

All in all a most jovial bonus swim, a new honorary Icicle and more hot-tub opportunities - what more could we wish for?

Broccoli soup

Oh and not forgetting our chic new tattoos courtesy of Josef's employer, the Austrian MOD:

With so many swimmers in each race for the relays, it soon got pretty crowded in the hot tubs - but somehow no-one seemed to mind too much...

(I later discovered that the chap next to me in the pic above - quiet Estonian Henri - is the WORLD RECORD HOLDER for endurance ice swimming: 2,400m in an ice hole in Siberia. Yikesicles!).

Meanwhile, Liz had been getting a small swimming fix in the little plunge pool just beyond the racing area:

 ...as documented in her excellent, somewhat abstract, video here:

With races over it was time to bid farewell to Sara, off for more nordic adventures in Sweden with friends. But not before she found a new pal for David's Rab jacket, sported by one John Conningham-Rolls who, er, sort of organised the Championships.

What a Rabble

So we are almost at the end of our tale. Later that night we board the sleeper train at Rovaniemi station - after a dance around in the snow on the platform:

Goodbye Rovaniemi

Helsinki: coming ready or not

A quick drink in the cosy train bar, then lights out for a much needed recharge after days of ice- and booze-fuelled excitement.

Arriving in Helsinki next morning, we had half a day to enjoy the city before our flight home.

Guided by our sixth sense for good pastries (and Talya's app), we made a beeline for a lovely old cafe-restau, family run since mid 19th century:

 As for me, I'm enjoying the last day of my 20s <sigh of nostalgia>

Then all aboard a little ferry for a trip to the island of Suomenlinna!

Among the rocky outcrops and cobbled streets, I half expected to see a Moomin amble by...

"Dagens basta stund" ("Best moment of the day")

At this point Talya, Liz and I headed back to the mainland for a swim in a glorious 1920s swimming pool right in the city centre:

Helsinki heaven

Here they alternate men's and women's days, and naked swimming is very much the order of the day. And what a wonderful and refreshing end to all the week's madness! I opted for an exceedingly leisurely head-up breaststroke in the slow lane, nodding hello to the other ladies as we made our way sagaciously, amicably round. I didn't even count my lengths, and felt altogether content to be a human. Hooray for naked swimming.

Convening with Clare, Noelene and Biba later, we discovered that they too had factored in a bonus swim - in the sea from the shores of the island! You just can't keep a Brockwell Icicle out of water....

And that, I think, is a good place to leave us - all swimming until the last possible moment before it's time to go home.