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1.1km Splash and Dash
2.4km Island Challenge
This was the event that our squads had been training for since early October.
Strongly believe in setting a target of accomplishment for yourself and then putting forth the effort required in attaining that goal. This is exactly what our entire club did on one beautiful Sunday in Coogee.
What a fantastic day it was too. The sun had been shining for a four-day stretch. Drying up the puddles from the inconsistent mixture of rain, cold wind, and dreary days. Come race day, the conditions were great. The island was gleaming on the horizon, as if just asking to be conquered.
Our club was heavily represented in the season’s first popular swim. We were 40 strong and brought an energy of excitement that was difficult to be matched. Our teams of 4 were poised together, adding to the already social atmosphere of the day.
We had many first time swimmers, who had put a lot of work in the pool in preparation for the day. Expectations were high as the focus had been on this day for some time now. Boy did we live up to those expectations. I didn’t see one disappointed face amongst us.
We all swam strong and more importantly, we all swam happy. In the modern world of competitive sports, our sport is one of the few that how ‘well’ you do in an event doesn’t matter as much on what place you come in, rather how the experience lasts after the event has come and gone.
For me personally, this is one of the events that I will remember fondly for a while.
Thank you to all of you crazy morning/lunchtime swimmers who choose to push your own boundaries, and take a stab at personal improvement. I admire each and every one of you. The season has now burst open, lets see where the tide can take us.
A word from two different eyes . . .
In bed nice and early at 2am. Alarm goes off at 8:30 and there's a mad dash to pack the sun screen, togs, gogs and sunscreen. Race to Coogee and drive for nearly 20 minutes looking for a parking spot until I find almost the exact same spot as last year.
Run down to the beach and then I can relax. Because that to me is what ocean swimming is all about - total relaxation. Insouciance while doing battle with the elements.
I started ocean swimming 5 years ago out of a desire to see if I could do it. My first year I did one swim, the next two and so on to now nearly every swim on the Sydney calendar.
I love getting down to a new beach and a new course every week, joking with the regulars, seeing familiar faces, taking the piss out of some and encouraging others. The sport is all about having a go to see if you can. You can be competitive when you're feeling good, you can take it easy when you're not, you can race your buddies, or the 65 year old who was beating you a few years ago.
And while you are doing all this you are experiencing a closeness with the ocean that comes with the regular breathing, the concentration on the stroke and the sights that you see a few metres below you.
For me, Wedding Cake is the first swim of the season each year. There are a few other reasons that make this one special. I love a swim that takes you somewhere, rather than around a few buoys off a beach. I love the Midnight Oil song. I love seeing the seabed rising towards you until you are floating over the tessellated sandstone surrounding the island.
Wedding Cake Island has reminded me that the real reason for this sport is to float away from the machinations of the real world, into a perfect zone of sea, sun and light (well, apart from the jellyfish).
Philip Muscatello
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