Calm waters and clear skies welcomed swimmers, helpers, supporters, swans and spectators at Yarralumla Swimming Beach for a revered Canberra tradition – the annual 5km, 2.5km and 500m Sri Chinmoy Lake Swims.

If there were an award for best family performance EVER, the Wielands from Sydney today put their stamp on this event in emphatic fashion. Son, Ned Wieland won the 5km swim outright by a whopping margin with 1:07:55; dad Mark Wieland claimed 1st place Male 60-69 in the 5km in 1:27:30 (new age group record); daughter, Tippy won the women’s 2.5km race outright in 42:47;  mum Pip Wieland came 2nd in the Female 50-59 in the 2.5km with 53:00; while while brother Duke came 2nd in the Male Under 50s of the 2.5km with 33:20! (it took a new course record to defeat him…)

Full results by category are listed on the website – here we mention only some amazing Course Records which fell on the morning:

Helen Rubin, mindful that no over 70s woman has ever completed the 5km swim at this event, wrote herself into the history books with a trailblazing 2:52:46. No matter who comes after her, she will always be the first to hold this coveted record! Not to be outdone, Graeme Wolfenden, also participating in the over 70s for the first time, not only lowered the men’s record in this new category, he exactly equalled his standing record in the Male 60-69 from 7 years ago, to the second – of 1:34:16! It’s a good thing that Graeme did step up a category too, because his Male 60-69 record meanwhile succumbed to Mark Wieland’s outstanding swim of 1:27:30. Mark, in turn, had to surrender his existing Male 50-59 record to the flying Austrian, Michael Pranckl, whose fine performance of 1:16:44 also earned him 2nd place outright.

James Thorp seemed to swim the entire 2.5km in a sprint, dashing to the line in a new all-time best of 32:47. Also in the 2.5km, Andrew Dawes smashed a 12-year-old record in the Male 50-59 with his outstanding 42:43 (which placed him 4th overall).

In the 500m dash, Mikaela Cooper broke an 11-year old record in the Female 17 and Over with her outstanding 8:46, which also won her the race outright (2 seconds ahead of Male 17 and Over winner, Oscar Morgan’s 8:48).