It's a tradition on January 1st: take a bath in ice water and warm up quickly afterwards. First, a short tour through the Morvan then towards Dijon. A few variations were introduced, notably at Lake Kir in Dijon, where it all started with… a race in underwear!
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First of all, head to Lake Pannecière in Morvan Nivernais, where around forty people chose at midday to take their first swim of the year, water temperature: between 4 and 5°c!
For this meeting at Lake Pannecière, there were many swimmers, around forty taking the plunge into the water, to form a small troop of around sixty people with those accompanying them. Thierry Martin is the organizer of the event, the genesis of which dates back to 2020: “We were a group organizing The Last Man Standing (trail race in the Morvan, editor's note), after sharing a little time together, we said to ourselves that it would be good to get together on January 1st to do something that would be done in many other regions. We launched it on the networks. We were quite surprised to see so many people. We found a group of Dutch people for whom it was a habit, we got closer to them. created the first manifestation.”
The organizer wants to recall the atmosphere “good child” of the gathering: “All the people are delighted, we feel better afterwards, like in the Scandinavian baths. And then there is this challenge and conviviality side: it creates a manifestation […] there is no pressure, they have fun, it's with family, between friends. This allows us to create a small local event, people have come from far away for this!”
Before the traditional “splash” of January 1, a first edition of a “slip run” around Lake Kir this January 1, 2025
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© Romain Liboz – France Télévisions
Before the traditional “splash” on January 1st at Lake Kir in Dijon, around twenty brave people embarked on the first “slip race” around the lake, before jumping into the water at the start of the afternoon.
The winter conditions did not prevent them from completing a loop around the lake, a little over 3km even though it was 0°C!
There were around thirty of them swimming in the waters of Lake Kir on January 1, 2025
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© Romain Liboz – France Télévisions
Obviously, good humor is there. One of the organizers, Alain Gimenez, member of Glaçon Connexion, explains the reason for the “slip race”: “we run in underwear, because it's a race in underwear! No boxers, no underwear, in underwear, which is vintage now, we can't find any anymore! The underwear sellers will be very happy, the underwear race in France it will revive the underwear industry!”
From 17 runners, they grew to around thirty swimmers to challenge the water of Lake Kir (around 6°C) for a joyful splash, under the eyes of amazed spectators.
