Avishag Kofman Turek (אבישג קאופמן טורק) has achieved many things in her native land of Israel, especially across the Sea of Galilee, but she wanted to swim out of her comfort zone. Last September, she completed a 35 km crossing of the North Channel from Northern Ireland to Scotland in 12 hours 40 minutes.
But instead of going longer, she decided to go colder. Much, much colder.
On February 24th in Elstatt, Austria in 4.9°C water., the 48-year-old Israeli went way outside her comfort zone, with the help of renowned Austrian ice swimming icon Josef Köberl.
She explains, “Last Saturday, I became the first Israeli women to complete an Ice Kilometer.”
Her time of 15 minutes 54.93 seconds was the fifth fastest in history among women in her age group (45-49). “I’m very excited because it was my first ice swimming competition. All I wanted is to succeed completing the distance because I am looking forward to swim an Ice Mile. It is most difficult for us to train because the water and weather conditions in Israel is so different than other locations where the water is cold.
My fellow Israeli open water swimmers can dream and understand that they too can dream and do difficult swims. This provides a little hope in these hard days.
I want to give credit to my coach Josef Köberl. Frankly, I was afraid. Last year, I visited Austria several times and to be honest, we started the hardest training at the Intertox Ski Resort in December 2022, swimming 104 meters at 1.5°C. It was important to me to swim in water colder than the North Channel, so I went to train at Joseph’s location. I also hit the wall.
This time, I only had two days to adapt and I was very stressed. But I did mindfulness training to release my limiting beliefs. As I entered the water, the cold met my face like horses galloping in a meadow. My hands felt heavy compared to what I felt before. But I was focused and knew that I could do it under the perfect conditions in the lake.
Ronit Peled also swam. Together, we were the first Israeli women to swim 500 meters. Without Ronit, it wasn’t going to happened. I love traveling with her to practice in the cold. We made it. The mission was successfully completed; another step on the way to the Ice Mile conquered.”
55-year-old Peled explains from her perspective and experience swimming the 500m event, “Everything worked out before we left, me and Avishag. Even though the fitness wasn’t at its peak and the mood certainly isn’t…we decided to take a road trip. Heavy snow that fell in the evening before the competition cooled the water down to 4.9°C.
It was great difficulty deciding what to swim in the 500 meters or 200. The fear was huge and the pressure is indescribable. After swimming 50 meters in the morning, I felt good. To swim the 500, I went into the water quietly and safely. True, it’s a challenging sport and unusual, but the smiles say everything.”
© 2024 Daily News of Open Water Swimming
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