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| Swimming right to the end helped pick up a few spots |
We got to registration nice and early and we were greeted by the coffee van...what a life saver! Coffee first, then registration and then a quick sit down before we were ushered onto the ferry. The boat ride was fantastic as we were crossing the lake as the sun rose in the direction we were about to swim. We were all excited about what was going to be and I know we were all picking out those important navigation points.
We had about an hour wait as the ferry shuttled the punters across the lake. Lots of discussion about past swims, what to expect in here and two guys who were interested in the training i was doing for the Rottnest Island swim. I got the feeling that they were interested in taking on the challenge too...
The start was a casual affair with a guy on a microphone counting down and then we were off. To everybodies surprise here was only one wave - which meant 350 swimmers all taking off together in a trashing match to rival the best i have ever seen.
To avoid the derby I took it wide for the first 500m before settling into a fantastic stroke rate and soon i was with a pack that obviously was willing to work together. For the next 3000m we touched each others feet and set a nice pace across the smooth lake. Then the last 300 was an all out sprint and it was soon clear who were the guys training for longer swims. As seen in the photo two of us were able to break away from the pack that helped us all the way...oh well that is the sport of Open Water Swimming!!
Ended the day with a nice time of 1 hour 5 minutes for the 3800m. That was good enough for 5th in my age group and my best finish for quite a while.
Off for a nice lunch of beans and toast before heading back to Sydney and start preparing for the Ocean Swim on Sunday.
