Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Bundaberg, toughest swim of the season

I went to Bundaberg to ensure I finished the season at the forefront of all ocean swimmers.

As it turned out the swim was terrific. We swam parallel to the beach for a kilometre before heading out to sea to round a headland and finished with a short run into the shore. The swell was against us all the way - it made the Palm Beach to Whale  Beach swim and the Bondi to Bronte swim (the two most challenging Sydney swims this season) look relatively tame. The waves were unrelenting and it was not until we turned to head for shore that swimmers got any help (and that was for less than 200 metres due to nature of the course).

It took me one hour thirty three minutes to do the 3kms - about thirty three minutes slower than I normally would take for such a distance.

The journey to Bundaberg was challenging in itself - a plane from Port Macquarie to Brisbane and then a drive to Bundaberg in heavy rain for most of the four hours drive - the return journey saw me fly back to Port via Sydney.

It was quite a weekend!

Neil Daley