15 February 2010

Big River Man

Last weekend The Advertiser's SA Weekend magazine had a fascinating article on the Slovenian long distance swimmer Martin Strel http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Strel who swam the Amazon River in 2007 when he was 53. Apparently the award winning documentary 'Big River Man' which is now out on DVD shouldn't be missed by anyone interested in swimming. Fellow bloggers may be particularly interested in Strel's diary of the final days of his journey. The BBC published it not long after he completed the journey: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/talking_point/6389845.stm

It was a big weekend for open water swimming as The Weekend Australian Magazine (page 34) carried a timely preview of next weekend's 19.7 km swim to Rottnest, mentioning among other things that Dieter Loeliger, former Adelaide Masters member, will be completing the swim two days before his 77th birthday! Good luck to Dieter as well as Pam Gunn and the other Adelaide Masters swimmers competing this year. Check out the Rottnest site http://www.rottnestchannelswim.com.au/content/other-events for more on this event.


09 February 2010

Ocean swimming booms: record numbers show for Cole Classic

The love of sea and salt is proving irresistible to a growing number of ocean swimmers, with a record number taking part in one of the country's longest-running ocean swims, the Cole Classic in Manly, Sydney. Four and a half thousand swimmers entered the 1 kilometre and 2 kilometre events, despite the heavy rainfall making for dirty conditions.
 
As a sport, ocean swimming is booming and NSW leads the way, followed by Victoria and Western Australia.

Download audio here from ABC website

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