ICE Hall of Fame - Honoree

Ram Barkai(67)

South Africa

Swimmer/Contributor Honoree 2019

The Ice is calling….Never be scared to dare!

Ice Swimmer, open water swimmer, cold water swimmer – basically loves to swim anywhere, anytime, anywhere, as long as it is clean, in the open and hopefully cold. He lives in South Africa, Camps Bay and is a father to 4 beautiful, bright, adorable kids as he always says.

I have lived in many places and swam in many places, I simply believe that life has to be lived to the utmost full with a strong focus on health of body and mind and healthy respect to mad adventures.

I believe that every single person out there has a superhuman or hero hiding inside them, and it is entirely up to that person to unlock that superhuman, ignore what everyone and society told us about what we can’t do and shouldn’t do and let it thrive with humility and respect to others.

Ram Barkai, South Africa - Contributor/Swimmer Resume:

Founded the International Ice Swimming Association (IISA) in July 2009.

Organisers of rules, publicity, board, world championships, and more

As Chairperson, Ram recruited and managed an International board of ice swimmers/organisers and put strong country organisations in the USA, UK, Ireland, Netherlands, Poland, and others. The website is professional, and swimmers are proud to have their results listed. The “Ice Mile” brand is the strongest brand in the sport, and swimmers proudly wear red jackets. Finally, IISA has continued to improve the safety standards in the sport.

Ram was the organiser and race director for the IISA South Africa Championships in 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2018 and the IISA South Africa Ice Swimming Championships in 2013,

2014, 2015, 2016, and 2018, organizing and recruiting swimmers for these

events. Approximately 15 to 20 swimmers were involved, helping to propel South Africa to third place on the global chart for Ice Milers at a site in Lesotho, the landlocked tribal kingdom in the mountains that provide the only possible <5C waters in the country.

Ram is also responsible for the following notable events:

2010: World‐first Ice Mile event with Ice mile swimmers—Water temp 5C, featured on SuperSport SA
2011: 20 short‐distance swimmers, 13 Ice mile swimmers—Water temp 5C, featured on SuperSport SA
2012: 15 short-distance swimmers, 10 Ice mile swimmers—Water temp 1.7C, featured on SuperSport SA
2014: Organized Antarctica trip, 6 South African swimmers—Water temp ‐1C, distances varied from 1K to 1 mile and featured in many media outlets
2015: First 1K Ice swimming event, 20 swimmers
2016: South Africa Ice Swimming Championships, 1K at 3000m altitude, 14 swimmers— Water temp 4C, featured on CNN
2018: South Africa Ice Swimming Championships, 1K at 3000m altitude, 15 swimmers— Water temp 3C, featured on SuperSport SA

As the leading ambassador/evangelist for the sport, Ram has travelled internationally more than 20 times, spreading the word about the sport (and always getting in a swim). These trips included: WOWSA conferences in Los Angeles, New York and Scotland; Chill Swim; IWSA World Championships in Finland and Estonia, and IISA events in Ireland, UK, China, Russia, Germany, Ireland, Scotland, Poland, Czech Republic, Austria, Lesotho, and France.

Media

IISA marketing professionalism has helped inspire extensive and positive coverage of the sport, including:

Discovery Channel – Ice Swimming
History Channel – Ice Swimming
CNN Big Story
BBC
NBC
Al Jazeera
Malaysia FM
Hong Kong TV
Xtreme Magazine
And others

Ice Swimming Resume

In addition to founding and running the IISA, Ram Barkai has also been a prolific participant and pioneer of the sport, helping set the pace for ice swimmers worldwide.

First-Ever Epic Swims

Antarctica 2008 1K in 0C – Current Guinness World Record for southern‐most Ice Swim
Ram swam in Antarctica 4 times.
The third person to ever swim in Antarctica (after Lynne Cox and Lewis Pugh)
The 1st IISA Ice Mile - 2.3K in 2009 Lake Zurich at 4 C
Part of the Bering Strait Relay

Other Special Swims or Conditions