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IN FOR THE WIM Wim Rise sees some hardy souls gat
her for a deep sea dip with added rigour. words Conor Sweetman photos Malcolm McGettigan It’s 7am on a Sunday morning in early March and close to 200 people have gathered on White Rock Beach in Killiney. There are no bleary eyes, just ones emitting nerves and excitement. It’s an overcast morning. Later, Storm Freya will engulf Ireland. Right now, though, it’s mostly calm except for the sea which is wild and menacing. Each wave sounds like a truck thundering up the beach. It’s as if the sea is trying to warn the crowd gathering on the sand to go home. But this crowd are not going anywhere. They’re not the kind of people that scare easily. Even when they are scared of something, they will usually face that fear head on – just like today. People arrive in ones-and-twos. Some are on their own while others are dragging a friend along for the first time. “I remember you from the last one,” exclaims one person as they greet another on the beach. “This is my friend Martina, it’s her first time.” Martina is beaming. She extends her arm to shake the hand of her new friend. Everyone becomes friends quickly here. But why are they here? “I just seen it on Instagram,” says Paul. This is how most people here first heard of Níall Ó Murchú. Niall is the reason why these hardy souls are here at this ungodly hour. They are here for Wim Rise which is named after Wim Hof, a 59-year-old Dutch world record holder, also known as “The Iceman”. Hof is known for his ability to withstand extreme cold. He attributes this ability to a practice of breathing that he has developed over many decades. This practice is known as the Wim Hof method. As Ó Murchú is a Wim Hof Method instructor, he instructs people in the method, before leading them into the Irish Sea for a dip. Together with his wife Josie, they run Wim Hof method workshops all over Ireland. And to some extent their involvement in it was born out of tragedy. “In November 2015, my brother sadly died,” says Josie. “So, I was engulfed in grief and sadness and we were just trying to get through the day. I was really looking for something to help me cope with the grief and the stress of day-to-day life.” 45