Final open water swims for the season and what a great way to end it with perfect weather, perfect water condition, and perfect company. Andrew, Eli, Mardi, Radek, and Jackson were all in attendance with Colleen as our honorary member again. Andrew, Eli, Radek, and Jackson were all crazy enough to swim the equivalent of a half marathon in the swimming world... 5km. Those who read the previous blog and what happened at Port Elliot will understand why Andrew swam the 5km and didn't b*tch out this time. Mardi and Colleen swam the 2.5km loop (it's a long loop). Before the race began, dolphins were spotted mapping the course for the swimmers and provided protection from the sharks.
The swim club finally thought ahead with Andrew bringing the goods... his green tropical cool cabana for shade as most members anticipated staying back to snorkel with the local marine life. More on this at the end of the blog.
5km swimmers were up first with Jackson taking an early lead and maintaining it the whole way. Be interesting to watch Jackson and Liam go up against each other in the 5km. Unfortunately, Liam was on work duty as a FIFO worker over in WA and was forced to be sidelined in the final swim and missed out on the world's most expensive towel (there's a special towel for all swimmers who attends and compete in all Masters open water swim series in the season). Andrew was the in 2nd pack of swimmers with his eyes on other swimmers to guide him in the big blue ocean as he can't spot a buoy to save his life. Andrew maintained contact with a non-masters swimmer, Rhiannon the whole race from start to finish. It was noted that Andrew was experiencing mild cramps in his left quad and calf in the last 200m of the first 2.5km lap. The cramp quickly migrated to his right quad with severe pain as it felt like he lost one of his engines...not that he kicked during the race. It was a 5km pull set for Andrew who swam behind Rhiannon who had some big kicks in her. Andrews cramp stuck with him for 2km and all he could think of is to not be a little bitch and pull out from another challenge like he did at Port Elliot.
Eli was trailing closely behind Andrew like always as she finished 2 positions behind Andrew. Eli had her hands full with a couple of swimmers on her tail and making her work for her position. Radek improved his time swim time from the previous year and he was stoked.
Eli set a challenge for the group, the true winner of the day is who can spot the most interesting marine life on the reef. Eli found some beautiful fishies under the Jetty but Andrew and Mardi spotted a shiver of baby sharks (*Cue baby shark song). You guys can be the judge on who was the true winner of the day.
Colleen and Mardi finished 15th and 16th respectively in the 2.5km swim. There was a special prize for the 15th finisher of each swim distance and Colleen was the lucky recipient ahead of Mardi by about 30s. Mardi had her fair share of being pushed during the swim with 2 other swimmers right on her tail. Mardi finished ahead of her pack with 2 other swimmers who finished 4 seconds and 9 seconds behind her. It was a race to the finish line.
As the race was ending, Andrew had severe lactic acid build-up in both his triceps where putting a shirt on was painful. This did not stop him from going back out to the reef for some snorkeling with Mardi, Eli, and her friend Lucy. The combination of the perfect 34-degree weather, nice ocean temperature, and condition made the day that much better. It was a great way to end the season. Eli and Andrew will be eying off a 10km ocean swim for next summer and potentially creating a UniSA Rottnest swim team. Some exciting things to come in the next season.
5,000m
Jackson Brooks: 1:13:12.50
Andrew Truong: 1:22:43.30
Elinor Teo: 1:24:15.7
Radek Sztolc: 2:04:39.8
2,500m
Mardi Brain: 45:41.90
Full results are available here.
