On Saturday the 26th January, the Serps southern most contingent participated in the Australia Day open water swim in held in Sydney Harbour as part of the Body Science Great Australia swim series. Starting on the east side of the Sydney Opera House the 2.2 km course went east up the harbour along Farm Cove then turned right before Lady Macquarie's Chair and looping around to finish back at the Opera House. Irene Keel (Serps: Brisbane) used her channel relay experience to carve a path through the rolling swell allowing Jeremy Cavanagh (Serps: London/Melbourne) to saunter along in her wake.
The morning was hot with races starting before 09.00 with around 500 swimmers taking part ranging from pre teens to people older than Gordon Brodie. The water was very warm with sponsors handing out free tubes of 30+ suncream to everyone, not just swimmers, to keep the sun at bay and amazingly, despite the water temp, a few wet suiters were spotted. Spectators lined the bank along Farm Cove to cheers participants in what was a fairly slickly organised event. Male and female fastest times were Ridge Grimsley at 21:24 and Melissa Gorman at 22:09 while Irene recorded 39:56 and Jeremy 37:33.
(Jeremy Cavanagh)
