BUTLER — In upper East Tennessee, pastor Don Winters of Sugar Grove Baptist Church in Butler is lovingly referred to by some family and friends as the “crazy preacher who swam the ice mile” or “the Watauga Lake lunatic.”
Winters takes it in stride but he has the last laugh. On Jan. 23, Winters became the oldest man in the world to swim an “ice mile” at the age of 66 and three months.
An ice mile is defined as “a one-mile swim under IISA (International Ice Swimming Association) rules in water temperature of 5 degrees Celsius (about 41 degrees Fahrenheit) or less wearing just a standard costume, goggles and one swim cap,” according to an article on The Outdoor Swimming Society website.
Winters completed the 1.03-mile swim in a time of 52:57 in 38-degree water and it has been documented by the IISA and the Guinness Book of World Records. [Read more…]