Ice, Shivers, Winter and Front Crawl
Hi there everyone!!
I hope this blog post/e-newsletter finds you well.
It’s been a very eventful few months with the launch of my website, outdoor winter swimming and new sponsors jumping on board.
Torq Nutrition and Dryrobe Partnership
November saw an exciting new nutritional sponsorship emerge between Torq Performance and myself! Torq Performance products offer the best in carbohydrate delivery to the muscles before, during and after intensive exercise and form a pivotal role in supplementing my existing nutritional program.
Last week I was also fortunate enough to partner up with Dryrobe from Wandering Star. Dryrobe is a unique waterproof and windproof outdoor change robe that is fast becoming a necessary piece of kit for open water swimmers in the UK and around the world, especially in wet and cold climates.
I very much look forward to working with Torq and Dryrobe in 2014!
Winter Swimming Rush
After attending the Global Open Water Swimming Conference in Ireland in October and Barcelona a week later for sea and pool training, I was then greeted by the start of the bone chilling winter swimming season. Winter swimming is something that by all accounts can appear extremely odd but highly exhilarating! No wetsuits are allowed and water temperatures here in London range from 5 down to 1˚C from November to late February. Acclimatisation is critical as I’m participating at the Winter Swimming World Championships in Lapland, Finland in March in the 450 metres endurance event. Air temperature there will be as low as -15˚C with the water temp easing in at a heart wrenching 0˚C. The spectacle will take place in a frozen river in the town of Rovaniemi where the ice will be cut out in the shape of a 25 metre pool using chainsaws. Tipped to be a highly entertaining occasion if the last Winter Swimming World Champs in Latvia two years ago is anything to go by! There will be around 1500 participants from up to 80 countries. As the Fins say, “Onnea!” (good luck). I’m sure to be needing all the luck I can get!
Chek out my short video of the Latvian event in 2012:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Saa3Rzjj71I
Public Speaking
On the 12th of January I was invited to give a talk at Loughborough University as part of the Team Torq swimming trials. I was very lucky to meet some of the most talented triathletes and open water swimmers the UK has seen with the likes of Adam Warner, Greg Shrosbree and Pippa Shuttleworth. I look forward to working with them and egging them on in this years competitive open water swim series!
My chosen organisations and their fight against hunger
2013 was a very busy year for organisations at the forefront of the battle against hunger.
Enough Food for Everyone If
The Enough Food for Everyone If campaign is an amalgamation of over 200 organisations dedicated to the eradication of hunger. The campaign launched in January 2013 with the goal of putting pressure on the leaders of the G8 to do more in the fight against hunger and to highlight the world's broken food system. Please click the link below to find out more of the great things that were achieved by the IF campaign last year: http://enoughfoodif.org/latest/thank-you If you wish to get involved in the fight against hunger then there are a number of steps you can take which begin at home:
Be conscious of food waste. Britain wastes a third of all food purchased at supermarkets (7.2m tonnes). Follow this link from Love Food Hate Waste for tips on how to ensure you can preserve food and limit the amount you waste: http://england.lovefoodhatewaste.com/node/85
Buy more Fair Trade products. http://www.fairtrade.org.uk/
Fundraise or volunteer for any of the great organisations that took part in the Enough Food for Everyone If Campaign http://enoughfoodif.org/who-we-are
The World Food Programme
The WFP has been working extensively in the on-going humanitarian crisis in Syria, the Central African Republic, and South Sudan as well as numerous other hunger hotspots throughout the world. Please click here to see an interactive map of the global hunger hot spots.
The Hunger Project
The Hunger Project also continues to work with government officials, businesses, volunteers and local communities to create and maintain a self-sustaining environment where people can end their own hunger. Please click here to find out more about the facts of global hunger and poverty provided by The Hunger Project.
In the month of March I will be taking part in their Live Below the Line campaign where I will have to try to live on £1 a day for 5 days!! Why not get involved and join me?
Many thanks for taking the time to read this and please feel free to email me any thoughts you might have about swimming and hunger!
Michael Ventre
Extreme Open Water Swimmer
Web: www.michaelventre.co.uk
Email: Michael@michaelventre.co.uk
Twitter: @ventremichael
