Swimmer Cath likes to chill with a freezing dip

WITH the temperatures plummeting, it’s the perfect time to cosy up and keep warm.

But for 45-year-old Cath Pendleton, from Troedyrhiw, near Merthyr, it’s the ideal time for her to go for a swim in a pond – because she’s an ice swimmer.

During the past week’s freeze, Cath was filmed swimming in Keepers Pond, Blaenavon, with two other GB ice swimmers and fellow “Dippy Dragons” Viki Brice and Debbie Wayman.

People thought she was crazy. But Cath loves the thrill she gets from swimming in the icy temperatures.

Ice swimming is an extreme sport, where competitors take part in events where the water is below 5°C.

Wearing only standard swimming costumes and goggles, swimmers have to acclimatise their bodies to the wintry conditions – as well as adhere to very strict medical and safety rules.

Now the International Ice Swimming Association (IISA), the board which runs the sport, is hoping to get it included as part of the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing, by running 1km events around the globe.

So far, Cath has taken part in events in Poland and is set to attend swims in the Netherlands and Scotland next year.

But the dream is to qualify to represent Great Britain at the World International Ice Swimming Championships, being held in 2019.

Cath said: “It is a new and emerging sport. You get people who swim in open water all year, but winter and ice swimming is becoming more and more popular. I’m just entering my third winter season of it.”

Cath says her favourite part is the buzz she gets after a swim.

“I would go every day in the winter if I could,” she said. “It is painful, but you get over that.

“Because it’s so extreme you are there in that moment. When I swim in the pool everything’s going through my mind. But in the cold water swimming it’s just you and that’s your moment. Afterwards you’re just on a buzz. I love the feeling I get from it afterwards, it totally clears my mind and resets my positive outlook on life.”

In order to do the swims, Cath has to acclimatise her body to get used to the dramatic drop in temperature.

“We’re not just crazy people who go and jump in the cold water,” she said. “We are doing it safely. We have acclimatisation. If anybody jumped in there, they would freeze or get hypothermia. You have to be really sensible, know your own body.

“You have to make sure you have a support team there to help you out and get dressed.”

Now Cath is gearing up to swim the English Channel in September to raise money for charity and fulfil a childhood dream.

She also wants to swim in Antarctica in 2020 as part of an expedition with endurance swimmer Lewis Pugh.

But until then, she’s making the most of the freezing weather in Wales and swimming as much as she can.