Kathryn Pratschke

Kathryn Pratschke was a member of the Antarctica 2020, a series of ice swimming challenges and environmental swims inside the Antarctic Circle (66°33′46.5″ south) that was nominated for the 2020 World Open Water Swimming Offering of the Year

Kathryn Pratschke is a 50-year-old Irish open water swimmer from Gartmore, Scotland.

Open Water Swimming Highlights

• She is certified as an IISA Official Observer L1 as of 1 March 2022.
• She completed an Ice Mile on 4 February 2017 in Lough Dan, Co Wicklow, Ireland in 4.53°C water and 6.40°C air temperatures in 41 minutes 58 seconds.
• On 9 February 2019, she completed an Ice Mile in Hatfield, England in 4.53°C water and 8.10°C air temperatures, swimming 1.16 miles in 38 minutes 25 seconds.
• She finished 7th in the IISA Ireland 1k National Championships Ice Kilometer on 26 January 2019 in 22:32:47.
• On 25 February, she completed an Ice Kilometer in 24 minutes 45 seconds in Deception Island in Antarctica in 1.60°C water at the age of 49 in the Antarctica 2020 ice swimming event.

2020 World Open Water Swimming Offering of the Year Nomination

Pratschke participated in the Antarctica 2020 International Swim that was nominated for the 2020 WOWSA Awards in the World Open Water Swimming Offering of the Year category with the following nomination: The Southern Ocean is at the bottom of the world surrounding the continent of Antarctica. Inhospitable to humans, but remarkably, Ger Kennedy organized a series of ice swims accessible around the ice-covered tundra to some of the most hardened ice swimmers on the planet. Antarctica 2020 International Swim was held inside the Antarctic Circle to celebrate Lynne Cox's pioneering Antarctica swim in 2002 and enable people to swim short distances or Polar Ice Miles. From Argentina, the Polar Swimming Quest set off by ship and stopped in the Bellingshausen Sea and the Weddell Sea over a few weeks. 12 swimmers entered the cold waters of Antarctica with bioprene only with three major swims safely recorded. Paul Eugen Dorin Georgescu set a world record in Hanusse Bay in 0.0°C water with 22 minute 44 second Zero Ice Mile. Two days later, Ger Kennedy swam another Zero Ice Mile in Paradise Bay in 0.53°C water and -1.10°C air in 34 minutes 2 seconds, and Cath Pendleton followed up 10 days later in Hanusse Bay with a 32:54 Zero Ice Mile in 0.03°C water and -3.2°C air. For safely organizing swims by Kathryn Pratschke, Redy Redfern, Dee Newell, Jane Hardy, Tiffiny Quinn, Michelle White, Una Campbell, Martina Ring, Anne O'Donovan, Matías Ola, and Alice Kelliher in Antarctica with the help of Sean Cullen and Dimcea Lulian Zamfir, for encouraging marine conservation awareness while encountering challenging conditions, and for enabling the extension of the known physical boundaries for everyone involved, the Antarctica 2020 International Swim by Ger Kennedy is a worthy nominee for the 2020 World Open Water Swimming Offering of the Year.

External links

• International Ice Swimming Association bio
• Arctic, Antarctica, BiPolar Ice Swimmers Announced by the International Ice Swimming Association
• White, Water, Swimming, Snow
• Antarctica 2020 Swimmers Describe Ice Swimming On WOWSA Live
• When Orcas Enter The Swim Zone
• 2020 WOWSA Awards – World Open Water Swimming Offering Of The Year Nominees
• Wild, Absolutely Wild In Conroy Pond
• International Ice Swimming Association
• Open Water Swimming
• World Open Water Swimming Association
• Daily News of Open Water Swimming