Beluga news – echoes from the pod
Welcome to the very first edition of Belugas news, something we hope to keep going into 2025 and beyond. There have been several highlights in September and October, and with the summer of swimming about to arrive, there’s plenty of dates to chuck in your calendar.
Given how much is going on and how many people are doing cool things, we’ve undoubtedly missed some highlights – if that’s the case, please reach out and let us know. And if you’d like to contribute to future months, please also get in touch!
What’s been happening?
Annual General Meeting
As you can imagine, the AGM was well-attended and raucous, despite the fact that the only person who moved any motions was Peter Keogh. You know what they say – you can take the man out of politics, but you can’t take politics out of the man.
Despite significant media attention and rumour mongering about Anthony Ferguson’s presidential campaign, no such coup eventuated.
- Raoul Mulder was re-elected unanimously as Pod President.
- Maddie McCorkell was re-elected as Secretary
- Wayne Steel is yet to launder any of the club’s money into offshore accounts, so we’ve left him as Pod Treasurer and in charge of the purse strings for another term.
- Izzy Twist will once again organise the Winter Pier to Pub, and Raoul has formally anointed her Pod Relationship Manager. He’d like to assure everyone this title is frequently used in the business world and is in no way a reference to Izzy’s dating life.
- Camille Bradley will continue to manage Beluga merch as our ever-trusty Merchandise Manager as half her home turns into a beanie and t-shirt warehouse.
Oak Park Reopens
Tuesday and Thursday Squad, taken by Tori, is now back at Oak Park for the summer season. 6.05am start both mornings. See you there!
MSV Short Course Relay Championship
Eleven mighty Belugas hit (or belly flopped into) the water at MSAC on October 20 for this year’s relay meet. We made up teams to compete in a range of races from the zippy 4 x 25m medley, to the exhausting 4 x 200m freestyle. It was a great day out, getting to know swimmers from other lanes with a mix of old hands and brand new Belugas racing together.
Shout out to new Beluga Lauren (see profile later in the newsletter), who joined up the week before and dived straight in to represent us. We even got to see Coach Tori race, which is always a reminder that we learn from the best. Next time we’ll be signing her up for a 200m fly if she keeps showing us up to such a degree.
The Belugas blew away the competition from the very first event, setting a new national record in the mixed 4 x 200m freestyle with a red-hot time of 9:41.37.
Congrats to Zhenya, Jarryd, Lisa and Craig on this fantastic achievement. And finally, thanks Raoul for organising the teams through four different drafts to accommodate us all!
Burleigh Heads 2024
The much-anticipated Burleigh Open Water Swim saw a pod of 30 Belugas and Beluga-supporters thawing out in the warm waters of Queensland after a Winter of braving Williamstown’s chill. Between visits to the bakery, cafes and ice cream shop, we enjoyed several swims across the weekend.
The main event was the Burleigh Open Water Swim on the Sunday morning. 24 Belugas participated across the 1 and 2 km swims, with 14 finishing in the top 5 of their age group. Highlights included Sue and Tracy both placing first in the 1km event for their respective age groups!
Post-race celebrations began with a delicious lunch overlooking the ocean at the surf lifesaving club and continued into the evening at The Party Room, hosted by Cath et al. Other highlights included an ocean swimming tips session run by the surf club and listening to whale noises while swimming on Monday morning in a swim that President Raoul coined “The Best Swim in Club History™”.
As always, the number one highlight was the laughter, friendship and support of our fellow Belugas. If you missed out this year, mark your calendar for next year, not only for the ocean swimming, but also for the ice creams and blueberry tarts!
Infamous Beluga dominates Masters PanPacs
As usual, Zhenya was up to her old tricks, swimming an outrageous number of events at the Master Pan-Pacific Games on the Gold Coast and taking home an impressive suite of medals. She nabbed gold and a PB in the 200 IM and 100 free, gold in the 200 back, silver in the 100 back and the 50 back, bronze in the 100m fly, and fourth in the 50 fly. We expect Tori will now be pushing her through long butterfly sets to make up for the one blemish on her near-perfect record.
Zhenya also memorably joined Mongolia’s 4 x 50m freestyle relay team, recording her fastest sprint of the meet in the process.
What’s Coming Up?
There’s a lot coming up, so remember to check the Belugas calendar here.
Belugas Awards Night
We hope to see as many Belugas as possible at this year’s awards night, which is always a hoot. We’re back at Acustico, where Jeremy is putting on his famous spread.
Date: Friday 22nd November
Venue: Acustico – 32 Union St, Brunswick VIC 3056
Time: 6:30 pm
Cost: $57 pp – payable directly to Acustico on the night. Drinks at bar prices.
RSVP: by Friday 15th November by clicking here.
Please submit any award suggestion to Maddie or Raoul, or via your RSVP form.
Great Victorian Swim Series
Warmer water and warmer weather means the Great Victorian Swim Series is nearly upon us. Kicking off at Point Leo on Boxing Day, the series features 10 open water swims, ranging from 1 to 2 kilometres, and wraps up in March.
For full details, click here.
Rottnest in February
There are several big events coming up, including the infamous Rottnest Channel Swim in February 2025. This 19km odyssey across the sea is really the jewel in the crown when it comes to Australian open water swimming, and it’s exciting to see a few Belugas taking up the challenge.
After finding themselves stranded by choppy conditions last year, Tim, Leo, Mark & Sean will attempt to finally make land on Rottnest this year. From memory, they had some issues with their preparation last year. Rumour has it they spent more time trying to decide on appropriate training sets then actually doing training sets. No doubt Tim will be kicking the squad into line over the coming months.
Peter Keogh, Simon Crunden, Anthony Ferguson and Raoul Mulder will also be bracing the channel to raise money for Plan, an international charity whose mission is to support opportunities, equality and a better future for girls around the world.
As you can imagine, Anthony has already expressed confidence his awesome foursome will reach Rotto quicker than Tim’s – watch this space!
You can support them here.
Willie Saturdays
Our regular Saturday morning swims at Williamstown continue throughout the year. There’s always a good crew, led by club meteorologist Anthony Ferguson.
There’s usually a good range of abilities and speeds on this swim, and there’s always the option of staying between the poles if the open water freaks you out, or you think Pointy Rock sounds like something from a fairytale. Just be sure to discuss any inhibitions you might have with a member of the group before you head out to swim.
Meet at 6.50am at the Williamstown Swimming & Lifesaving Club for a 7am swim.
Saturdays at Brunswick Baths
Our other Saturday swim is at the Brunswick Baths, usually led by Andrew Matthews or Sue Cox. There’s always coffee to be had afterwards, too, usually at Acustico..
The group usually jumps in from 7am to do their own warm-ups, followed by a 2.5km set from 7.15am.
Welcome to the Pod
By now, most of you will have met Lauren, of Lane 3 infamy. But in case you haven’t – here’s a snapshot…
Name: Lauren
Nickname(s): Loz, Lozaren, Burnsy
Pre-swim superstitions: Coffee always…but half decaf
Footy team: St Kilda – don’t talk to me
Favourite movie: Home Alone 1 & 2
Favourite possession: Not really a possession, more like part of the family – my dog, Tofu. Otherwise it would be my bike.
Pub: Union Hotel has some pretty great free music.
Coffee shop: John Gorilla.
Holiday destination: I would love to visit India at some point.
Dream job (if you weren’t a swimmer): Triathlete would be cool!
Most famous person you’ve met: I got a photo with Rob Schneider when I was 12
Biggest fear: Heights
Dream swimming pod (pick 3): From the Belugas? How do I choose?!
What would you feed them the night before the swim? Rice and tofu poke bowl.
Talent you wish you had: Could speak multiple languages.
Beluga that should appear on the Bachelor/Bachelorette: Probably me. Or Anthony would provide some quality entertainment
How often do you think about the Roman Empire? Absolutely never
Weirdest thing that’s happened to you: I would say there are too many to just give one, but I ended up staying in a hostel in the Netherlands that turned out to be a school camp.