NEWPORT — Charlotte Brynn of Newport has recently returned from the International Ice Swimming Association’s 5th Ices Swimming World Championships in Samoens, France.
At 57, Brynn brought home three Gold Medals in her age group.
In doing so she set two world records in her age group.
In the 500 Meter Freestyle she finished with a time of 7:48:04, breaking the previous World Record of 9:15.74.
In the 250-Meter Freestyle she finished in 3:38:99, setting another World Record in her age group.
She also claimed a Gold Medal for her age group in the 1,000 Meter Freestyle, finishing in 16 minutes and 50 seconds.
All this was done in 37 F waters.
Ice Swimming has seen tremendous growth in recent years and last week an elite group of 475 athletes gathered from around the world representing 41 countries to compete in the 5th World Ice Swimming Championships in Samoens, France.
The Championships ran January 12th-15th, 2023.
They were held in a 10-lane, 25-meter pool constructed in an Alpine Lake.
nternational ice swimming association rules do not permit wetsuits, or other heat retaining clothing and swimmers are required to swim in only a standard bathing suit, and swim cap.
Brynn competed in the Championships representing Team New Zealand, her native country.
She is Executive Director of The Swimming Hole in Stowe, Vermont.
She also serves as Assistant Director at Kingdom Games.
She has her own swim coaching-training company, BrynnSwim.
Bynn has been swimming at Kingdom Games events since the first Kingdom Swim in 2009.
Two years ago she moved to the Bluffs in Newport, and started a series of highly acclaimed Swim Tech Camps and Clinics which are held on Lake Memphremagog.
She helped found the Memphremagog Winter Swim Festival in 2015.
The Festival has grown from 41 the first year to an expected 180 winter swimmers this year.
Lake Memphremagog has become her training venue for open water swimming, while Lake Willoughby is her regular “go to” for winter swim training as other lakes in the area freeze over.
During the summer, she has swum the length of Willoughby over 17 times.
Although Brynn swam with Team New Zealand at the IISA World Championships, Team USA was bursting with other members of the Memphremagog Winter Swimming Society, including Martha Wood, Rena Demeo, Qing Li, Elizabeth Almond, Andrew Wallace, and Janet Kylander Manning.
They, along with Brynn, are all regular winter swimmers at the Memphremagog Winter Swimming Festival on Lake Memphremagog on the last weekend of February.
Brynn, Demeo, and Manning are all on the Organizing Committee of the Festival.
