IT MAY only be a mile but it’s a daring swim that can be fatal.

Just 109 people in the world have braved the dangerous Ice Mile mission and now one Hampshire woman can add her name to the elite list.

Wearing just a swimming costume, hat and goggles Kate Steels-Fryatt has risked hypothermia to swim a mile in waters below 5C.

Finishing in just under 33 minutes, Kate, who went without a wetsuit or any specialist creams that help open-water swimmers keep warm, became only the 110th person to complete it, ratified under international rules since 2009.

But for the 45-year-old from Bishop’s Waltham it is a drop in the ocean as she prepares for the first-ever Ice Swimming World Championships next month in Russia, the destination of the wartime Arctic convoys.

Kate, who took on the Ice Mile at Andark Lake, the scuba diving centre near Bursledon, said: “I had trained hard and just focused on the swim.

“It was incredibly tough and took so much out of me.

"The water was 3.9C and wind chill 1C. I swam a total of 1,650m in just under 33 minutes.

“My support team were amazing and I couldn’t have done it without them.

"They provided safety cover while in the water and, as soon as I completed the swim, helped me to get changed into lots of layers of warm clothing and to recover.

"Once I started shivering and shaking they knew I was starting to warm up!”

Kate, a Hampshire County Council employee, added: “I have been open-water swimming for quite a long time. I like the feel and the buzz; it’s a challenge and I wanted to do it.”

Now Kate, of Ashton Close, is preparing for the world championships in Murmansk.

“Training is going well and doing the ice mile was a big boost. I train in a pool three times a week and outside five times,” she said.

Kate swims in local rivers such as the Itchen and the Hamble as well as in the sea at Hill Head.

Her support team were Rory Fitzgerald, from Timsbury near Romsey, who is also going to Murmansk, Heather Lunt, Aaron Froom, Matthew Johnston and Lou Walker plus others from Andark Diving Centre and photographer Terry Scott.

She said Andark Lake is a great venue for open water swimming and the staff have been very supportive.

She added: “Although I do get some curious glances from the divers, fully kitted in dry suits, as they emerge feeling cold while I get into the water in just a cossie.”

Last year Kate came second in the Winter Swimming in Springs Festival, in Jinan, Eastern China.

At Murmansk, a 25m pool will be cut into a frozen lake and swimmers will race over 1km (40 lengths) in water that will be around freezing point, while the air could fall to -15C.