I arrived at Rovaniemi Airport late in the evening on the 19th March and walked outside the terminal to be greeted by a shuddering -17˚C air temperature. My lungs had never expereinced anything so cold.

But like in Latvia a couple years earlier, I had to get on with business. Although this time it was the endurance event of 450 metres and yes as always... no wetsuits allowed. 

The 8 lane 25 metre pool is cut out of a frozen river using chainsaws and diggers in the beautiful scenic setting of Santa Clause's home town of Rovaniemi, Lapland (so I'm told).

What an experience! One of the toughest swims I've ever had to endure. For a link to the full article on how the swim went as well as a short video showing the more fun shorter events of the championships then follow this link to my blog page. 

And yep we will all be doing it again in Siberia in 2016! For now though... bring on the hot chocolate, sauna and a hot shower!!