Open water swimmers brave chilly Lake Macbride

IOWA CITY - Dozens of water enthusiasts have been jumping into Lake Macbride for a challenging workout - but it's now become much bigger than anyone expected.

'We had no intention to form a group, we just wanted to swim,” said Tom Casavant, professor of electrical engineering at the University of Iowa and member of iCows.

iCows, which stands for Iowa City Open Water Swimmers, was the idea of a few people who were looking to increase their typical pool workouts through open water swimming.

Some of the group's original members - including Casavant, Liz Uribe, Ben Kieffer, Jerry Protheroe and Hal Ide - met during their daily swims at City Park Pool on Park Road in Iowa City. They formed the group in 2012 but only began calling themselves iCows in late 2013.

Today, the group has about 100 people signed up to participate on their website, icows.iaheat.org.

From springtime until early fall, up to 20 swimmers gather two or three times a week to swim 3,500 meters, or 2 miles, through the lake.

'You end up swimming with the same couple people, most of the time that are in your pace range and things like that,” said Ide, 62, who retired from a Hancher Auditorium staff job.

Swimmers set the route, but the group of kayakers who accompany them act as guides and as lookouts for hazards such as boats.

'The mantra we try to tell people is that the kayaker sets the course, swimmers set the pace and the swimmers have to stay with the kayak,” said Protheroe, 58, the Enterprise Data Center manager at the University of Iowa.

Those joining iCows don't necessarily have to swim in the lake. Staying in a kayak is just fine, members say.

Casavant said the group received permission from the Iowa Department of Natural Resources for its 50 or so swims per season.

The swims typically last until the water temperature drops to 50 degrees.

Protheroe joked the group goes out 'from when the ice clears until the ice is about to form again.”

'Once the water temperature is below 50 degrees, it's hard to really consider it safe because you can become hypothermic pretty quickly in water below 50 degrees,” Casavant said.

A typical indoor pool's temperature is around 80 degrees, members say.

Kieffer, who called himself 'a cold water weenie” at the start, said adjusting to a lake's temperature comes with time and experience.

'Then you get into this kind of feeling where cold is not cold, cold is like that feeling you have - the best I can describe it - when you're chewing spearmint gum. The feeling you have in your mouth,” said Kieffer, the host of 'River to River” on Iowa Public Radio.

Being immersed in the waters of Lake Macbride, members say they appreciate that it's one of the cleanest lakes in Iowa.

'I've often thought we should be like the canary in the coal mine when it comes to water in Iowa because we're out there, we have that contact with it so often, and we appreciate the water quality,” Kieffer said.

The iCow members, however, say there's still room for improvement. While they have no plans to become advocates for water quality in Iowa, members say they're seriously considering it.

And, they say almost anyone is welcome to join the fun, so long as they are a confident swimmer who considers swimming 'as second nature as walking,” Kieffer said.