Port Elliot for those who are not familiar with the area and Horseshoe Bay conditions this time of year, it's not the most ideal condition and it feels like swimming in a washing machine. Port Elliot was the first open swim for UniSA back in 2021 with Andrew, Allana, Ivan, and Albert who represented the club. Radek completed the swim in 2021 as a guest and so was Eli (which was the first time we met her and now she is one of our main open water swimmers). This year, we saw Andrew, Mardi, Radek, Jackson, and Liam all entered and swimming the rough course. Eli was entered but unfortunately had to pull out due to work commitments as the swim fell on a Saturday rather than a typical Sunday ocean swim. The club also ran into Jemima and Colleen who both have been training with the club and are honorary members at the time of the swim. Jemima was warned by Andrew that the conditions may be rough and to reconsider swimming 2 laps.
Knowing the experience from 2021 and expecting bad weather. All entrants were provided an option to amend their race distance. Andrew, Mardi, and Jemima quickly jumped onto it, cutting the 1800m swim down to a 1 lap 900m swim. Oh, boy was this a smart decision... Jackson, Liam, and Radek were determined to complete the 3 laps in the brutal condition. Andrew as the head coach and leader of the club should not have taken the easy option and b*tched out from the challenge. This was not well accepted by the Masters swimming community. Andrew was complaining about the weather and conditions the whole time as if no one else experienced what he went through. He needs to suck it up and deal with it next time rather than chickening out. Read the next blog to see how he made up for his poor and weak decision.
Liam as expected smashed the whole field with a whopping time of 28:28.80 which was 2:05.50 in front of 2nd swimmer. Jackson finished the 1.8km swim in 31:44.90 with Colleen and Radek smashing the swim in 35:42.1 and 49:57.00 respectively.
In the 900m, Andrew finished in a time of 18:41.50 with Mardi closely behind in 19:08.50 and Jemima swimming a time 23:28.70.
1800m
Liam McHugh: 28:28.80
Jackson Brooks: 31:44.90
Radek Sztolc: 49:57.00
900m
Andrew Truong: 18:41.50
Mardi Brain: 23:28.70
Full results are available here.
