Fishing boats, sailing, walking, swimming, the beautiful mountainous
scenery and the fantastic red, golden and white-sanded beaches. This is
how most of us would think of Kefalonia, a Greek island which is fast
becoming a well-known and popular summer destination. With guaranteed
sun all season and more beauty then one can manage in just a one-week
stay the Island has still managed to remain untouched by commercial
tourism.
However, summer isn't the only time of year when things happen there. The Island doesn't hibernate all winter just waiting for the next season to begin, well not completely anyway. Some of the months there, outside of the normal tourist season, are still warm and sunny, especially November, March and April. The latter is our springtime when a vast numbers of wild flowers, such as, the Campanula versicolor and the Wild Orchid, Ophrys tenthredinifera are plentiful and blanket this exquisite isle in a myriad of color.
The winter months of December, January and February are particularly cold and rainy but can still boast the occasional sunny and warm day. I have found myself sitting in a friend's garden, enjoying a local beer in nothing but a T-shirt and jeans in the middle of January. You wouldn't catch me going for a swim though. The temperature of the surrounding sea drops quite a bit and even on the warmest of days can be very chill. There are some, however, who are not put off by the chill.
In the year of 2006 the small historic town of Lixouri, on Kefalonia's western peninsula hosted Greece's, 2nd most popular, winter, open-sea swimming event. Mentor is a 5km marathon from the harbor of Lixouri across the gulf to the Theodore lighthouse in Lassi and back again. The event itself was the brainchild of local government and is sponsored by many local businesses. It was introduced as a means of bringing people from different nations together and to promote the Island itself.
In its 3rd year, Mentor sparked interest from swimmers all over the world, including Hungary, America and Turkey and this year also boasted the first female contenders. So, on January 6th 2006, at 9.30am, 19 swimmers decided to throw themselves into the chill waters (at 13C) to test their endurance. On this day also falls Epiphany (Holy Light), a religious Greek Orthodox celebration, where a small group of young men also decide to throw themselves into the chill waters in order to catch a holy cross thrown from on high by one the local Priests.
The day itself was cold and cloudy with the occasional peep of sunshine and the very real threat of rain from the dark Cumulo Nimbus clouds circulating around the top of Mount Enos (our highest peak). Needless to say, because of the cold conditions a number of support boats accompanied all the swimmers throughout the duration of the event and warm blankets and drinks were on hand for them on their return. The harbour side was filled with spectators, local dignitaries, journalists, photographers and ET1, one of Greece's national TV stations. All had come to watch the Mentor swimmers
make their first jump into the chill harbor waters. The cold proved too much for 3 contenders who were rescued by 1 of the 2 safety boats on call that day.
The first to finish was America's World Champion, Jay Benner, in a time of 1 hr 20 mins, second was the lone Hungarian entrant (who won last years event) and third, Aristo Lassus from Larissa. The first female to finish came in sixth. All in all 16 out of the 19 entrants finished, the last few, unfortunately being caught in the sudden downpour as the heavens finally decided to open. The rain continued to fall for the rest of the afternoon as rivers of water flowed down the streets, at least the rental car had a good clean, which was well overdue.
We all met up for lunch at the Apolafsi Hotel and Restaurant, just outside of town and very close to, Lepeda, one of Lixouri's finest beaches and it was here that I managed to catch up with the winner, Jay Benner. From Tacoma in Washington State where he lives with his wife and little girl, Jay started swimming competitively from the age of 10 and spent 8 years on the World Champion Pool Racing Circuit, which is where he gained his World Champion title. It wasn't until 1993 that Jay decided to move his swimming from the pool to the open sea. He has visited Greece 9 times for summer racing events, including the 30km marathon across the Messinian gulf at Kalamata, which he has taken part in 4 times.
Mentor, however, was the first winter event he had taken part in and marked his 10th visit here and his return to swimming. To have a World Champion like Jay Benner and also entrants from neighbouring Turkey (whose relations with
