As part of preparations for his swim in the Arctic Ocean off Norway, long-distance swimmer Lewis Pugh has spent 20 minutes in a pool full of ice.
He says the exercise on Wednesday, monitored by the Sports Science Institute, was to simulate conditions expected when he tackles a gruelling one-kilometre swim north of the Spitsbergen Islands later this month.
In August 2003, Pugh swam five kilometres in the Barents Sea off North Cape on the Norwegian coast. The latitude of the swim was the most northern yet.
This month Pugh is to take to the water beyond 80° latitude, where the sea temperature could drop as low as 2°C.
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"If the wind comes from the North Pole, there will be growlers in the water. This would reduce the water temperature to 2°C," said Pugh.
"Should the winds come from Siberia, then the water temperature will be a warmer 4°C or 5°C. The swim, which I see as the last great swim, will take 20 to 25 minutes.
"The aim of (Wednesday's) exercise was also to see whether my body could handle such low temperatures."
While Pugh, 35, was in the pool at the I&J fish processing factory at the Waterfront, his aids scooped in spadeloads of ice to lower the temperature to 4°C.
The fishing company had contributed half a ton of ice.
Ross Tucker, one of two students at the University of Cape Town Sport Science Institute who helped monitor Pugh's body temperature, said there were two ways in which the body responded to ice-cold water.
"One is a cold shock, which involves gasping," Tucker said.
"As long as one stays in the water one hyperventilates and breathing increases. The cold can also affect the electrical activity of the heart and this could lead to heart failure."
Asked afterwards how he felt, a shivering Pugh said: "I'm fine - just cold, very cold."
- This article was originally published on page 3 of Cape Times on August 04, 2005
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