Jinja set for Africa's maiden ice swimming event

By Gloria Kyomugisha

African Ice Swimming Championships (May 11)

Jinja will go down in history as the first African city to host the Ice Swimming championships due May 11 at the Nile resort pool.

Inspiration for the exciting new sport comes from the Winter X Games that are inclusive of the ice swimming championships which have for the past two years been held annually in Sweden and the Scandinavian countries.

The city of Skelleftea in Northern Sweden that has initiatives to exploit the Source of the Nile in Jinja,then decided to export ice swimming to Uganda with Jinja becoming the first African town to host it.

Residents of Jinja town were treated to an ice dip taster session last weekend in which a mock exhibition of what the ice swimming championships would be like was put up.

The championships will see the water temperature in the swimming pool lowered to about 10° C, a rare phenomenon in Uganda, for the championships to take place.

Swimmers will then take part in an individual 25m race before grouping up for the relay races in the ice cold pool waters.

Jinja residents' anticipation for the event continues to gather momentum as they partake in ice dipping sessions in preparation for the main ice swimming event.