Winter swimmers brave stormy conditions and sub zero temperatures - Video

(28 Jan 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Skagen, Denmark - 24 January 2025
1. Various of people in the water at the opening of the Skagen Winter Bathing Festival in northern Denmark
2. Man playing trombone to open Skagen Winter Swimming Festival
3. Various of participants gathered before entering water
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Rita Eeg, 78-year-old founder of Skagen Winter Bathing Festival:
++SOUNDBITE STARTS ON SHOT1 AND IS OVERLIAD BY SHOT 2-3&5++
"We knew it from the music festivals in the summertime all over the world. Why not do the same four days in the wintertime? And in the starting of 2008, 9, 10, it was more and more, can you call it modern? It started all over to be a winter swimmer, do something new. And more and more people say, yeah, we want something else. We want to live, to feel that you live. Because when you are out there, you know it. No doubt about it, I am living."
5. people in water
6. Pan of men in ice bath, woman pours in ice
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Bent Christensen, chief operating officer, “The Top of Denmark” tourist board:
++SOUNDBITE STARTS ON PREVIOUS SHOT AND IS OVERLAID BY SHOT 8++
"Now it's become a tradition, and we can see the same people from Norway, Sweden, Germany come here every year because they can see the funny thing about the event. So, and for the locals also, now something happens in the city at this time of year and that's good for everybody."
8. Various of Participants in jacuzzi




STORYLINE:
Braving high winds and horizontal showers, hundreds dived into the freezing seas off Denmark’s north coast over the weekend (23-26 January) … some even dressed up for the occasion.

Welcome to the thirteenth edition of the Skagen Winter Bathing Festival.

Hundreds of swimmers plunge into the chilly sea off Denmark’s most northerly city.

The four-day festival was founded in 2012. At the time, it was the first and only gathering of its kind in the Scandinavian country.

Seventy-eight-year-old founder Rita Eeg says they got the idea after forming a local swim club with friends.

"We knew it from the music festivals in the summertime all over the world. Why not do the same four days in the wintertime?” she says.

“More and more people say, yeah, we want something else. We want to live, to feel that you live. Because when you are out there, you know it. No doubt about it, I am living, she says.

Perched at the top of Denmark’s Jutland peninsula, Skagen a city of around 8,000 people - sits between two seas.

During summertime, it’s a popular seaside destination for tourists, but during winter, skies darken and temperatures plummet.

The festival has now become an annual tradition, taking place on the last weekend of January, and bringing hundreds to the seaside town during the normally quiet off-season.

"Now it's become a tradition, and we can see the same people from Norway, Sweden, Germany come here every year because they can see the funny thing about the event,” says Bent Christensen, chief operating officer at tourist board “The Top of Denmark”.

“And for the locals also, now something happens in the city at this time of year and that's good for everybody."

Winter swimming is becoming increasingly popular in Denmark.

According to the Association of Winter Bathing in Denmark, there’s now over 190 clubs and more than 74,000 members dotted across the Nordic nation.

“The first time, it's so cold, I will freeze and I'm saying, if I can do this, I can do anything in the whole world. That's my feeling."

Skagen Winter Bathing Festival ran 23-26 January.


AP Video by James Brooks



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