Cold-water swimmers set a new world record for largest polar bear dip
PRAGUE, March 1: Czech cold-water swimmers on Saturday set a new world record for the largest polar bear dip.
A total of 2,461 participants were involved in the successful attempt on the Most lake in northwest Czech Republic.
The previous record was 1,799 swimmers who participated in the polar bear dip in Mielno, Poland, on the Baltic Sea on Feb. 15, 2015, according to Guinness World Records.
For the record to be recognized, the participants have to be wearing bathing suits, be at least waist-deep in water and stay there all together for at least one minute.
The temperature of the water during the record attempt was 3.5 degrees Celsius (38.2 degrees Fahrenheit). It has to be lower than 10 degrees Celsius (50 degrees Fahrenheit).
“Czechs are a nation of polar swimmers,” said David Vencl, the organizer of the event.
Vencl, a freediver, himself set a world record four years ago in men’s swimming under ice when he swam a record distance of 80.9 meters (265 feet). (AP)
Thieves nab pricey bulldogs from pet store after faking a seizure
DENVER (US), March 1: Thieves nabbed a pair of high-priced bulldogs from a Colorado pet store after a man allegedly faked a seizure to distract employees while an accomplice grabbed the puppies from a pen and ran out, authorities said.
The theft, which was captured on surveillance video, happened Sunday.
Three men walked into a pet store in suburban Denver a few minutes apart, walked around and asked questions about the puppies, which sell for $4,299 each, the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office said. While a 37-year-old man appeared to be having a seizure, one of the other men lifted the lid off the pen where the puppies were kept, took two and began running out of the store. An employee tried to tackle him and the man dropped the puppies but managed to grab them again and run out with a second man, the sheriff’s office said.
They got into a gold Cadillac Escalade with tinted windows and no license plates that pulled up outside the store, the sheriff’s office said.
The man who allegedly faked a seizure was arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit a felony, theft, and drug possession. Investigators are looking for the other men. (AP)
