Lake crossing: Thousands of grasshoppers and a municipal council in a swimsuit

The colorful field of participants crossing the lake quickly became a floating unit in the water. (Photo: Goran Basic / NZZ)

Filippo Leutenegger is obviously feeling comfortable in his new role as sports minister on Wednesday afternoon. Dressed only in tight swimsuit, the town council is held on the pier at Mythenquai Beach and made a speech. He is happy to note that once again, many Zurichers are participating in the crossing of the lake. He was particularly happy that he too could participate in the race – even though he was overwhelmed by some.

The appearance of 66 years corresponded to the spirit of the big event, which focuses on mass sport. The 7743 swimmers all wore a bib on their gold swim cap, but their time was not stopped. In the Strandbad Mythenquai, there was also the whole variety of participants: in addition to the sports cannon with an aquadynamic suit, reflective swimming goggles and a wrist stopwatch, people went into the water, barely 1500 altitude meters

The colorful troupe was, however, very professional: A fitness instructor made with the eleven different starting groups never had an extensive warm-up. The music of the hit parade too loud jumped and trampled the bathing farms in the meadow. The scene was reminiscent of a wild dance choreography of a horde of half-naked jumping valets. However, the first goal was reached even before swimming began: when the sun crossed the cloud cover shortly before departure, the first were already sweating

Almost like the Olympics

" It's not a competition, "said Urs Kessler, president of the Verein Stadtzürcher Seeüberquerung, to the swimmers, and when Filippo Leutenegger restarted the start of the first group, the front row still plunged into the water. as if they were at the start of an Olympic triathlon, the 1500 meters distance was exactly the same as the Olympic Games, but for most of them it would have taken much longer than the Olympic Games. the 19 minutes that Nicola Spirig had used during his Olympic victory in London in 2012.

Among the less ambitious participants, there was a wild disorder that, at first, splashed one remembers There was a lot of stress like in the indoor pool on a rainy winter weekend. But no one has been discouraged by this. Leutenegger also pulled his bathing cap over his ears and mingled with the crowd. With only hundreds of heads coming out of the water, the golden hoods became a uniform of water rats and the colorful variety quickly became a large floating unit

The road to Tiefenbrunnen Lido became the gold head of two dozen buoys and balloons. rejected. Many lifeboats were ready in case. The water was already warmer, said club president Kessler. Much colder, the lake should not have been, otherwise the event would have fallen into the water in a figurative sense. The 22 degrees were only a degree warmer than the minimum temperature set by the organizers.

Variation Swim Styles

But exercise keeps you warm, and the crowd offered a fun visual instruction on different swim styles. Some apparently toiled effortlessly in the crawl across the lake, while others slept like swans in the water in an elegant breaststroke. The miles and a half, however, dragged on. Towards the end of the trail, there were also more and more rear swimmers still to watch. However, no significant incidents have been recorded by the organizers.

Despite the effort, some of them were frozen out of the water on arrival. The organizers took precautions. At the latest with a hot sip of the given broth and a risotto with a fork, most were warmed up.