Although everyone knows that hardening benefits both body and mind, all most people can think of when watching these fifty hardy swimmers in January is frozen Hell. One look at the athletes was enough to give the onlooking tourists on the Charles Bridge goosebumps. The air temperature might have been above zero, albeit by a single degree, but it definitely wasn't warm enough for bathing. Fortunately, nobody suffered harm during the traditional swimming event.
For the tenth time, the Charles Bridge Museum together with the Czech Union of Hardymen welcomed the New Year with a The Treee Kings swimming under the Charles Bridge. On Monday, January 6, 2020, straight at noon, more than fifty athletes, a couple of whom were from abroad, swam for their ferryman's punch.
"The event originated ten years ago when me and Zdeněk Bergman, a Prague ferryman, decided that we should organize some kind of interesting event together. And look, now it's a tradition that's been held ten years in a row, and every year there's more of us,"
Luxusní byt na prodej na Praha 9 - 75m, Praha 9
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rejoiced Vladimír Komárek, chairman of the Czech Union of Hardymen, who was the first to jump off the ferry Vodouch in the river Vltava, wearing a crown on his head, as a king should.
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Otužilci křičí Ahooj. Source: LP-life.cz
Homage to John of Nepomuk
Fans of hardening plunged into the depths of the cold water at the fifth bridge pillar of the Charles Bridge, from the place where st. John of Nepomuk had been thrown into the river. They swam a route of about two hundred yards to the wharf below the last standing arch of the Judith Bridge.
The hardies spent about seventeen minutes in the water. Those who had a longer history of "abusing" their bodies in this way then managed to stay on dry land for another twenty minutes. After this period of time, the body begins to produce heat, due to which it starts to shake and it is therefore necessary to warm it up. In addition to changing into dry and warm clothes, the hardy swimmers had ferryman's punch to help them feel comfortable, thus symbolically toasting the Charles Bridge Museum.
Health benefits
The ages of the swimmers varied, because both old and young people can pursue this sport. None of them has anything negative to say about their ice cold hobby; on the contrary, they all agree that they have been healthier and happier since they started with hardening.
"When a regular person catches a cold, it takes them at least a week to recover, when it's a hardyman, they sniffle for a day or two and that's it,"
one of them explained.
Yet, same as every year, the event was a bizarre spectacle and the tourists, dressed in winter clothes, practically threw their backs out to get the best shots.
