While some might have thought it was Thelma and Louise heading down the highway to Mt Martha, it was actually Tracy and Sandy transporting precious cargo (Jaye) down to the MMAD swim. Meanwhile Vito had dumped Anthony and instead spent the night with Raoul, carbo-loading on a beer or two (evidence provided). The conditions on arrival to Mt Martha were close to perfect. Quick tip number 1: when you get there early it is REALLY easy to get a car…
The Torquay Danger 1000 Ocean swim is one of my favourite Open Water Swims. It’s a great swim to bring family and friends along to. There is a swim for ages 10 years onwards, lots of giveaways, food, and the start and finish lines are close together, so you can stay with your group right up until only a few minutes to go. The Brunswick Belugas truly embraced the spirit of the event with most bringing family and friends to…
“The largest organised open swim event in the world”. Fancy that! Lorne inspired Rudyard Kipling to write his poem ‘The Flowers’: “Buy my hot-wood clematis, buy a frond of fern Gathered where the Erskine leaps, down the road to Lorne” … to which I would add: Four brave middle-aged men drive forth to the Shark’s pen With eye shields strapped tight and orange markers in sight We just don’t know if we’ll see them again Boom goes the starter’s gun…
“You idiot!” the car park attendant chuckled cheerfully when I told him I planned to do both the 3.8km and 1.4km swims at today’s Rip View Classic in Point Lonsdale. And certainly the conditions were not those to gladden the heart of the open water swimmer – leaden skies and a 30km/h southerly, whipping up a nasty ocean chop. Undaunted, the long-course contingent of Belugas – Anthony Ferguson, Owen Leggett, Vito Muré, Paul Turner and myself (now where were all…
Apart from Williamstown open water swim (which I had the good luck of missing), the Anglesea Rock2Ramp was shaping up to be challenging from the get-go. The prediction of strong winds generally means swimmers must be prepared for an arm-wrestle with the ocean. In the morning, a heavy summer rain greeted everyone collecting their racing kits. The 2.5k and 1.2k swimmers then had an opportunity to scan the course markers and water conditions. Peering through the gap in the ti-trees…