Hundreds run for chilly new year dip in the North Sea

Record ID: 162860

  • Title: Hundreds run for chilly new year dip in the North Sea
  • Date: 1st January 2017
  • Summary: OSTEND, BELGIUM (JANUARY 1, 2017) (REUTERS) SWIMMERS, SOME IN FANCY DRESS, LINE UP IN THE COLD, READY FOR THEIR DIP SWIMMERS RUN INTO THE SEA SWIMMERS COMING OUT OF THE SEA AFTER A BRIEF DIP IN CHILLY WATER (SOUNDBITE) (English) BRUSSELS RESIDENT, NOOR, SAYING: "We do this every day - every year - it's very fun as a family trip, it's something you don't do every day, so that's why. REPORTER ASKS: "HOW DO YOU FEEL? NOOR, SAYS: "Cold! But it's fun!" (SOUNDBITE) (English) BELGIAN NATIONAL, JOLIEN, SAYING: "We started last year with it and it's fun to do, and we like to go in the water, so that's why."
  • Embargoed: 16th January 2017 16:19
  • Keywords: Ostend swim
  • Location: OSTEND, BELGIUM
  • City: OSTEND, BELGIUM
  • Country: Belgium
  • Topics: Sport,Swimming
  • Reuters ID: LVA0015X90X1B
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Some 1,500 people began the new year with a refreshing dive into a chilly North Sea on Sunday (January 1).
    Braving the freezing winter temperatures, the swimmers ran on Ostend beach to dive into the six-degree-celsius water, but most of them quickly got out of the sea and went back to their towels and dry clothes to keep warm.
    Some participants made it a tradition to bathe in the North Sea at the beginning of each new year.
    "It's very fun as a family trip, it's something you don't do every day, so that's why," said Noor, a Brussels resident, adding the dive was "cold but fun".
    Jolien, wearing fancy dress, said she started it last year and returned because "it's fun to do".
    The first New Year dive in Ostend was organized in 1987.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2017. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
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