Latvians love winter swim (REUTERS) 01.03.2009.

March 1 - Swimmers in Riga take to the icy water in an annual winter swimming competition.

At least 70 people competed in Latvia's seventh winter swimming competition despite the temperature of minus 2 degrees Celsius and a layer of snow.

Men and women aged 20 to 70 years competed in 25m and 50m races in a hole cut in an ice-covered lake.

The fans of winter swimming say that once you try the sport you'll never look back.

(SOUNDBITE) (Russian) WINTER SWIMMING CONTESTANT, TAMARA KUZNECOVA: "Everything started with stress, and to overcome it my friends invited me to swim, then it became a habit and all my problems stayed behind. Now I am simply living and rejoicing in life."

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• winter
• swimming
• latvia
• latvians
• riga
• babelitis
• seals
• jelgava
• cold
• water
• swim
• ice
• lake
• reuters

[kamazinsh]

what a surprise - it`s really cold ;)

[lollylovescandy]

i said im so surprised!!! it must be cold!!!

[kamazinsh]

in english please ...

[lollylovescandy]

estoy pero sorprendida!!! que frio!!!