
Author Archives: MAK Chun Kong
Self-swim


Philosophy acquired in race.💡In the half way, I caught up with a man. I tried to speed up my stroke frequency but couldn’t be faster. I was still parallel to him. I focused too much on him. Then, I switched the focus on myself only. Told myself ‘Enjoy every stroke and second in in ice water. Concentrate on techniques.’ then, I got over the opponent effortlessly. It seems that being able to enjoy the process brings me to the next level. 🙏🏿 In the race, I m ultimately swimming with myself not others. I want to do my best performance for myself.
Aims of race: To test what I have learned in daily training. Enjoy every stroke during the swim in ice water. Chit-chat with friends before and after races. Swim for physical and mental health.💆🏻♂️ Look at the values I gain instead of results and achievements.
Picture after Prague 1km race in 3.8°C water 🤟🏽🌨💨Saturday.
#Hongkongiceman #swimming #openwaterswimming #ows #hongkong #Czechrepublic #czechia #winterswimming #coldswimming #iceswimming #coldbath #race #performance #selfswim
Purpose of life

[serious] Does anybody share similar thoughts?
Comparing sport with life, most of us chase for the achievements and results. In work/career/society, chase for money, titles, certificates, posession? In sport, One challenge is done and look for another challenge? Want to win medals?
Sometimes, I felt like being a hamster running in a circle cage while seeing other “hamsters” fall and scream. 😵💫Then, I started to question: what was the purpose of sports and even life? Did I swim the English Channel and ice miles to fill the void?😮💨 I got lost and into depression mode.
Sunk down all thoughts, I got out from the confusion by refining my purposes💡🤩:
1. Bring values to others. If luckily you find my ideas helpful, it helps me to find my purposes. Please let me know. 😊🤝
2. Have fun. If I don’t enjoy swimming, I don’t do it everyday. Concentrate on and enjoy the process more than the achievement and results. 🥳Swim like partying. For example, observe how the arms catching the water and how the water flows. How we can reduce our water resistance.
3. Be grateful and don’t take things for granted. For example, I m grateful to have good health now to swim like this. 🙂 I didn’t even realize. and looked back the time after knee surgery years ago, I walked on crutches and couldn’t go anywhere.
Through social medias, we can build positive minds instead of putting hollow achievements and triggering jealous comparison. It is our job as a human.
#Hongkongiceman #swimming #openwaterswimming #ows #hongkong #Czechrepublic #czechia #winterswimming #coldswimming #iceswimming #coldbath #serioustalk #deeptalk
Interview about my Czech life
Keep your brain vibrant in 2021

Most folks put out new year review and new year resolution post. I dodged from it this time. Try to keep my brain away from the tradition set by the society.
It doesn’t make a difference when the calendar is switched from 2020 to 2021. Time is going forward and the world is still spinning. It doesn’t stop even one second when we celebrated the new year. A new year won’t make you better or worse. Keep up with all the belief we have. Always question what the media and society feed to your brain.
Kept up my own tradition to swim 750m butterfly in a freestyle event while others swam crawling style. Society wants to put you in a game to compete for “medals” and results. Often, we forget about why we even started a hobby. We do it for fun.
First time interviewed by Ceska Televize. I tried my best to express my idea above although only got a minute to talk.
#Hongkongiceman #swimming #openwaterswimming #ows #hongkong #Czechrepublic #czechia #prague #winterswimming #coldswimming #vltava #butterfly #newyear #newyear2021 #ceskatelevize
Your passion leads to limitless possibilities.

“Your passion leads to limitless possibilities.”
Those words wrap up my journey in 2020.
Express my feeling after absorbing the Bruce Lee’s quote “using no way as way. having no limitation as limitation.” and a quote “where there is a will, there is a way.” Your willpower and determination ultimately come from your passion. You do something because you love it. The passion and love give you a tremendous source of power. It opens the door of boundless possibilities.
#Hongkongiceman #swimming #openwaterswimming #ows #hongkong #Czechrepublic #czechia #winterswimming #coldswimming #englishchannel #englishchannelswim #lamanche #longdistanceswimming #marathonswimming #Dover #channelswimming #miracle #hongkong #usingnowayaswayhavingnolimitationaslimitation
How the English Channel looks like right now?
[English Channel ->
] This is how it looks like in Channel on 25.08.2020. Watch till the end.
Feat. Rostislav Vitek. It s a life lesson. Be patient. Don’t forget to have fun. If it aint no fun, I dont swim.
Support my challenge here: http://bit.ly/English-Channel-HK-en
#Hongkongiceman#borntoswim#englishchannel#englishchannelswim#lamanche#swimming#openwaterswimming#longdistanceswimming#ows#marathonswimming#Dover
Make conditions A, B and C happen!

[Road to English Channel 🇬🇧 -> 🇫🇷] Believe in destiny. 6 years ago, I sat in front of my computer probably with some alcohol in Germany. I had the worst physical condition in my life after surgery on left knee. I read about how people can swim across English Channel. I thought that was crazy. How can people overcome the ultramarathon distance, cold water and financially feasible at the same time? I just set this idea aside. Life and destiny guide me to be here over years. When you think you need conditions A, B and C together to accomplish a task, in reality, all the conditions A, B and C can never happen together right in front of you. When you have A and B, u don’t have C, and vice versa. Only when you decided to go ahead for the goal, you will have all the conditions A, B and C happen!
Picture: Have my Holter 24-hour heart monitor right traveling to UK. Make sure my heart is alright.
Support my challenge here: http://bit.ly/English-Channel-HK-en
Hongkongiceman #borntoswim #englishchannel #englishchannelswim #lamanche #swimming #openwaterswimming #longdistanceswimming #ows #marathonswimming @borntoswim #believer #dreamer #holter
Final preparation

[Road to English Channel 🇬🇧 -> 🇫🇷] There are many reasons not to do a task. But you only need one reason to do a task. My only reason is “I want to”. Based on the pure passion, I just give justification to myself with two “reasons”. “Reason 1″: I want to demonstrate that Hongkongers 🇭🇰can achieve what we have been fighting for. We dare to risk our life to dream big. 🙌🏿”Reason 2”: Two years ago, my great dude Kamil and I, in a trip to support coach man Rostislav Vitek’s @rostavitekswimmer 2 way English Channel, decided to found Born To Swim International Limited in Hong Kong. Sadly, Kamil passed away in April 2020. I decided to hit to the Channel with coach man. I will be able to feel Kamil’s spirit. 🙏🏿
Sports, to me, is a mixture of art, emotion and science together. With only scientific facts, you can’t get through challenges. You need belief and courage to be successful. 🤜🏽🤛🏻
Challenge date: 26 August – 1 September 2020
Picture: Balance my scapula at home with my newly installed TRX system on balcony. from @anna.k.l.c Support my challenge here: http://bit.ly/English-Channel-HK-en
#Hongkongiceman #borntoswim #englishchannel #englishchannelswim #lamanche #swimming #openwaterswimming #longdistanceswimming #ows #marathonswimming @_borntoswim_ #believer #courage #challenge
English Channel Training
[Road to English Channel] The English Channel crossing swim is now confirmed to be on 26 August – 1 September 2020. 🦾 Luckily, water/air temperature will be a bit warmer and with 2 hour more sunlight time. Last week, I finished a 6-day swimming training camp by Rostislav Vitek and plus 2-day weekend races of 3km, 5km and 10km under strong wind and wave in Lipno, Czech Republic. Finalizing the physical condition.
Support my English Channel crossing here: http://bit.ly/English-Channel-HK-en
#Hongkongiceman#borntoswim#englishchannel#englishchannelswim#lamanche#swimming#openwaterswimming#longdistanceswimming#ows#marathonswimming#lipno @_borntoswim_