January 24 - 30, 2016: Issue 248
Avalon Beach SLSC's Ocean Swim 2016
There were some standouts at the Ocean Swim hosted by Avalon Beach SLSC last Sunday, and for us the 10 young swimmers in the 0-15 Division stood out most. The 1st back through the finish gate in the 1k swim of these was Kayla Bentley, time 14:54, just two and a half minutes behind a champion swimmer in Peter Thiel, whose time was 12:24 for the 1k. Mr. Theil is currently fundraising for the Black Dog Institue and is part of a team swimming in the 2016 Maui Channel Swim, planned for Saturday, September 3.
Keisha Deacon Chilmaid finsihed 2nd in the 0-15 Division with a time of 15:51, 15th overall out of the 141 that did the first swim, while brother Kyron, 16-19 Division, finished 5th overall with a time of 13:47, just over a minute behind Peter Thiel, Chris Fydler and John De Mestre, three gentlemen with decades of ocean Swimming experience between them.
All the results from this year's Avalon Beach SLSC Ocean Swims are here.
The Avalon Beach Surf Swim is part of the Pittwater Ocean Swim Series which incorporates five ocean swims hosted by five of the Pittwater Surf Life Saving Clubs.
The clubs also support each other with Bilgola, Newport and Whale Beach members helping provide water safety last Sunday.
The participants we spoke too said the Avalon swim was one of their favourites. Some were from close by places such as Narrabeen and Collaroy while others travelled from Bondi (the Peguins!), Cronulla Lindfield and Cammeray and even Queensland and Perth!
Swimmers who compete in three or more of the five swims go into the running for the major prizes which includes a trip for two to Byron Bay to compete in the Byron Bay Ocean Swim Classic, staying at the Bay Royal Luxury Apartments for three nights.
The Don Jenkins Swim hosted by Mona Vale SLSC runs today (Sunday January 24th) and the Big Swim on Sunday 31st.
Pittwater Online News loaded an album of pictures taken last Sunday for participants and their families to get photos for their albums - and just over 200 thousand people visited this during Sunday/Monday - must be some big extended families out there!
The images are still available here and we run some below, from set-up, so those who could not attend get inspired for future Pittwater Ocean Swims - they are a pretty happy vision and a wonderfully colourful event to be part of.
Pictures by A J Guesdon, 2016.