Winter Schengen 2011
For the third time the Long-distance and Winter Swimming Division of TJ Hana Prostejov and the Nautilus Breclav Sports Diving Club organised an event of unique and unequalled importance – a winter swim across the river Dyje from the Czech Republic to Austria. The idea for the swim began 3 years ago when winter swimmers wanted to commemorate the 2nd anniversary of the Czech Republic's entry into the Schengen Zone and demonstrate the possibilities of free movement.
"If people can move freely by any means of transport, why shouldn't they swim freely from one country to another, even in December?," said one participant in the event with a record number of participants. The register bore the names of 43 winter swimmers from the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Great Britain. The distance of one kilometre was swum for the first time by Austrian swimmer Georg Manov. The swimmers weren't even put off by the icy 2°C water or the freezing wind.
"If people can move freely by any means of transport, why shouldn't they swim freely from one country to another, even in December?," said one participant in the event with a record number of participants. The register bore the names of 43 winter swimmers from the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Great Britain. The distance of one kilometre was swum for the first time by Austrian swimmer Georg Manov. The swimmers weren't even put off by the icy 2°C water or the freezing wind.
