Challenges and adversity often bring unexpected surprises.

Due to East Basin being closed to swimming, this year to swim the full length of the lake was not possible. The ‘contingency plan’ – 4 laps of a 2.5km loop course around Spinnaker Island – proved a very happy alternative. The start/finish area is a lovely setting for the event HQ, with all supporters and spectators gathering tougher as a community for the whole event, rather than being spread out along the length of the lake, with a wonderful view of proceedings from the tip of Black Mountain Peninsula. Despite heavy rain in the days leading up to the event, race morning dawned clear, with participants remarking on the excellent conditions: calm, clear water, very little wind and a pleasant 22 degrees.

The race saw several seasons, with clouds, rain and sunshine all taking the stage at various times.

Several swimmers were using this course as a qualifying race for other open-water swims, including Rottnest Island and the Cook Strait.

Despite starting all solo swimmers and relay teams together in one wave, the solo swimmers nevertheless dominated the outright placings, with the first placed team coming in 8th place overall.

Liam McHugh took line honours as well as the ‘no wetsuit’ championship. Having moved to Canberra just 4 months ago for work, Liam took to his new ‘home’ lake in style, winning in an impressive 2:31:17. Next home was Greg Taylor, wining the Men 50-59 category in 2:39:16. Last year’s winner, Michael Pranckl swam 2:44:28, to claim 2nd place this time in the Male 50-59 with Paul Kruger 3rd in 3:04:10. 2nd and 3rd in the Solo Male Under 50 were taken by Stanley Alston (2:49:20) and Scott Walker (2:58:31).

Leah Dodd came 7th outright, in winning the Solo Female race (no wetsuit) in an excellent 2:55:19, though not far ahead of her podium companions, 2nd placed Jodie Miller with 2:58:29 and Claire Fishpool with 3:00:05.

There are many races within a race – especially among the various age categories and divisions. When watching all the swimmers from the shore, it is not always clear where and how these races are unfolding. As it happened, the closest race of the day was in the Solo Female 50-59 (no wetsuit) category, with Judith Smart eventually taking the main prize in 3:27:15, ahead of Maranda McLaren’s 3:33:17 and Mary Yule with 3:34:18.

In the welsuit-wearing categories, Mark Pollock was fastest among the Male Under 50 with 2:43:21, from Glen Sturesteps in 2:49:15 – Glen completing the most impressive feat of finishing the Sri Chinmoy Canberra 100 Trail race AND 10km National Capital Swim, in addition to winning his first-ever attempt at the Sri Chimney Triple-Triathlon just 3 weeks ago. Bravo Glen!!

Janet Gorst has been a stalwart of this event for many years, and today showed all her customary class, taking the Solo Female 70 and Over with 3:57:00.

Raquel Holgado, one of our most enthusiastic participants who documented her swim last year in a wonderful video and was again filming today, completed the distance in a wetsuit, in 3:57:36.

Fastest team on the day, and winner of the Mixed Team All Over 50, was “CSS Plus 3” – Dave Peedom, Nicolee Martin and Suzie Gunning – with an impressive 2:58:05.

“BilbyAquanauts” – the father-daughter pairing of Scott and Kate Kristiansen – were the winning Mixed Team Under 50 in 3:19:08.

1st All-Female team was “LGB Mermaids” – Michelle Freer, Jo Abbot, Sarah Hammond and Lili Rogers – in 3:26:49.

The winning All-Male team was “Ripple Effect”, a father-son combo of William and Jeremy Rhind, in 3:51:42.

Many thanks to all organisers and participants for adapting to the changed circumstances this year so smoothly and seamlessly. Special thanks to Florian Geier and his assistants from Lake Tuggeranong Sea Scouts; to Ron Thompson of YMCA Sailing Club; and Rebekah Stamatis for medic support.

With the very rare conjunction of all of Canberra’s lakes fully closed to swimming for over 2 weeks this month, it seemed almost certain this year’s Sri Chinmoy National Capital Swim would need to be truncated, distorted, amended or cancelled. And if it would happen at all, given the recent preponderance of wet, rainy, stormy, thunderous, blustery and very cold days, it would likely be a miserable ordeal for all involved…

… That the race occurred on schedule, actually covered the length of Lake Burley Griffin after all, in calm, mild waters under clear skies – was perhaps good luck, a marvellous meteorological anomaly, a comic cosmic conspiracy, or perhaps the concerted will and optimism of an entire field of aspiring, committed swimmers.

With the lake temperature hovering around 19 degrees, more swimmers than usual opted to wear their wetsuits – for those unused to sustained immersion in cool waters, definitely a wise move.

Of the Wieland brothers, Ned (the elder) opted to swim sans wetsuit, while younger brother Duke donned the suit. The difference was remarkable, with Duke powering away from the start and increasing his lead at each transition, reaching the beach at Grevillea Park a full 10 minutes ahead of Ned – 1:58:50 to 2:08:51. The wetsuited Matthew Hogan and Rhys Sweaney were closely matched, shadowing each other in 2:33:16 and 2:33:27 respectively, just ahead of the 1st Mixed Team, “Algal Zoom” (Melanie Wellenberg and William Aikman) in 2:33:46.

Next unsuited swimmer was the consistently excellent Michael Pranckl, in 2:42:59, ahead of Conor O’Brien with 2:47:27. Others to finish in the Males Under 50 were Tom Sullivan (3:42:13), Jack Nottle (3:44:21) and the dauntless Grant Campbell in 4:19:40. Peter Power was fastest among the Males 50-59 sans wetsuit, finishing in 3:01:08, with a close tussle to decide 2nd and 3rd between Jonathan Wall (3:08:23) and Andrew Reichel (3:08:34), with Male 60-69 winner Ross Youngman making it a 3-way sprint in the chute. Leading the back-markers of the field, Neil Papenfus put the lake behind him in 4:24:56. Used to the Meers and Waters of the Lake District, 71-year-old Bill Hitchcock just arrived from the UK to sample lake swimming Down Under-style in our own LBG, which he grasped and conquered in the formidable time of 4:29:28.

Emily Kempson was a clear winner of the women’s non-wetsuit race, taking line honours in 3:00:28, ahead of crowd favourite Emily Dwyer’s 3:16:38, while Liz Crowhurst took out the Female 50-59 non-wetsuit division with her 3:51:25.

Nicolee Martin was first wetsuited woman home (from the F50-59 category) in 2:49:37; Katie Binstock, the only Under 50 female to swim with a wetsuit, spanned the lake in 3:10:35; while the impressive Suzie Gunning claimed the F60-69 wetsuited prize in 3:19:40.

In the M50-59 wetsuited division, Chris Southby (2:52:09) and Aston Duncan (2:59:16) both broke the sought-after 3 hour barrier – the furthest Aston has ever swum, a mighty feat having completed the Sri Chinmoy Triple-Triathlon just a fortnight ago. Michael Rodda tallied 3:15:29; while Andrew Leigh (3:48:45) completed a laudable double, finishing his first Sri Chinmoy 100km Trail Run and 10km swim in just a few months (with a 2:54 Chicago Marathon for Rob de Castella’s Indigenous Marathon Foundation, sandwiched in between). In the M60-69s, Chris Carson (3:26:46) proved best on the day, from Bob Welldon’s 3:39:22.

In the MU50 wetsuit category, Samuel Cox crossed the line in 2:44:18, from Brendan Cook with 2:58:14 and Joe Walshe (another Triple-Tri finisher from 2 weeks ago), 3:14:05.

Fastest All-Female team on the day was “Sharks are Friends” (Samantha Morley and Rebecca Lannin), with 3:12:15; while the title of best All-Male ensemble was claimed by “Bilby Lookers” (Scott McClymont, Peter Thorley, Alex Gosman and Lachlan McCalman) in 2:53:10.

Our gratitude to all volunteers and helpers – to the YMCA Sailing Club; to Florian Geier and the Lake Tuggeranong Sea Scouts; to Paul Robey and Rebecca Stamatis for medical support; to Emily Stacey; and members of the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team from Latvia, Mongolia and Canberra.

When the wind blows hard and long, you want to have it at your back. Ironically, if the race had been held from end-to-end of Lake Burley Griffin as intended, swimmers would have benefited from a tail gale and fast times would surely have ensued. However, with East Basin and a few transition beaches closed, the only option was to stage the race on a loop course: Lake Ginninderra offered a setting less busy, though quiet and pretty.

2020 marked the first time this race has extended to the full Olympic Marathon swim distance – 10km – so the 2.5km loop was to be completed 4 times, anti-clockwise. Sadly though, because not swum on the ‘official’ course in Lake Burley Griffin, best times from today cannot be recognised as course records.

The Over-50s relay teams dived in with all the Solo Swimmers at 6.30am – not only was the morning cooler, it seems the wind had not yet received its orders for the day. The remaining relay teams followed after 15 minutes. An advantage of the loop course is that spectators could wander along the shore and follow most of the action, without needing to drive and navigate from one transition to another.

By the second lap, kayakers were fastening their hat straps, swimmers were struggling to make forward progress into the wind, and officials were clinging forlornly to the inflatable finish arch – a mission ultimately deemed futile and abandoned.

Ned Wieland has performed splendidly at the Sri Chinmoy National Capital Swim for several years. Today the 19-year-old veteran brought along his younger brother Duke (17) in tow, and the pair literally swam stroke for stroke through the full 10km, barely missing a beat through the fiercest bluster (their 2nd lap was only a minute slower than the 1st), with Ned powering home to finish in a fantastic 2:18:07, 3 seconds clear of his understudy Duke in 2:18:10. Another Sydney teenager, 14-year-old Lucas Dubois felt the effects of the wind more as the race wore on, yet showed plenty of class and guts to claim 3rd with an exceptional display of 2:37:34. Other sub-3-hour finishers – outstanding in the conditions – came from Michael Pranckl (2:48:56), Chad Schneider (2:56:49), Mark Newman (2:57:41) and the strong winner of the Male 50-59s, Murray Chapman in 2:59:13. Greg Gourley, who had designed a perfect 10km course in Lake Burley Griffin which will now have to wait another 12 months in cotton wool, took out the Male 60-69 with his sterling 3:54:52.

Belinda Bullivant glided through the water as though it were a still pond in winning the women’s race courtesy of a fine 3:02:01, from 2nd placed Courtney Bicknell (3:06:35), with Annabel Maggs (3:31:30) completing the podium placings. Right on Annabel’s toes however, came 1st placed Female 50-59, Nicolee Martin with 3:32:20, from Suzie Gunning’s 3:38:09.

Team-of-2 pairings did very well in the Relay races. The All-Female Teams division was taken out by the pairing of Janelle Ahern & Melanie Wellenberg (AKA “Zig and Zag”), in 3:02:19; while the ensemble of “Bilby Bathers” (Peter Thorley & Alex Gosman) came home strongest in the All-Male Teams Over 50, with a fine 2:57:13, taking 3rd placed team overall. The Open All-Male Teams race was dominated by “JT Multisport” (Yoann Colin, Joseph Pascall & James Thorp), winning in 2:31:20; while the Mixed Teams event saw “Team Keeping It Real” (Steve Robertson, Teresa Wynter, Pete Quinn & Alex Bowyer) just missing the 3 hour barrier, clocking in at 3:00:35.

On behalf of all participants, our immense gratitude to the sterling work under trying conditions from members of the Canberra Canoe Club under the stewardship of John Birch; and to our medical officer, Rebekah Stamatis, who fortunately had a quiet morning of it.

 

Ah, the joys of Spring!

Too many race reports start with talk about the weather – and this will be another, for the wind bestrode this event as it owned Lake Burley Griffin today and all activity thereon. Some swimmers became seasick and several were forced to withdraw when choppy waves became unnavigable and support paddlers themselves became swimmers after being upended in the swell. The advantage of a tailwind was largely lost through the extra distance covered vertically as well as horizontally in the effort to maintain any sense of direction. Efforts to hoist the inflatable finish arch were abandoned as the height of folly.

The closest tussle in the lake today was between eventual winner of the Solo Female race in 2:32:13, Emily Kempson from runner-up Georgy Falster’s 2:33:35. Emily never led by more than 30 seconds for the first 8km, with Georgy having the advantage through the final transition at Commonwealth Place before Emily turned up the effort on the final leg to bring home the win. Samantha Doust completed the podium placings with 2:37:23. Nicolee Martin was the standout in the Solo Female 50-59, winning in 3:03:24 from a virtual dead-heat for 2nd placing between Liz Crowhurst (3:43:02) and Dee Greenwood (3:43:03).

Nicholas Grinter has always done well at the Sri Chinmoy National Capital Swim, though there has usually been one or more superstars of the sport ahead of him. Today was Nicholas’ day, leading from the outset to record a fine win in 2:22:13 withstanding a strong challenge from 2nd placed Michael Pranckl in 2:22:48. Pierre Lord came in 3rd with an excellent 2:24:01; though he decided against his original plan to swim the return leg back to the start in the face of the monstrous headwind and considerable peril to paddlers that would have entailed.

Stuart McNeill led home the Males 50-59 with 2:24:17 in a gutsy swim, ahead of Ant Schwager (2:29:55) and and Mark Knackstedt (2:37:06). Jon Schol took the award for the Males 50-59 wearing a wetsuit in his debut swim at this distance in 2:54:26.

Greg Gourley is in a class of his own in the Male 60-69 category, and though he elected to wear a wetsuit today, Greg emerged from the churning water in a fleeting 2:33:07 looking like he had just swum a few warm-up laps of the local pool.

Katie Binstock was unchallenged in the Solo Females wearing a wetsuit, taking her division in 2:45:24. Of the Solo Males wearing a wetsuit, Nicolas Campos was fastest in a sleek 2:30:32, from Brendan Cook’s 2:35:35 and Paul Jeffery in 2:46:58. Inge Close won the Solo Female 60-69 with a wetsuit in a very impressive 2:43:35, only seconds ahead of her wetsuit-wearing younger competitors in the Female 50-59, won by Sue Lyon in 2:43:57.

The fastest combination of the morning was the mixed team of “JT Multisport” (James Thorp, Joe Pascall & Grace Hoitink) who made it from one end of the lake to the other in a mere 2:02:50. The famed Goulburn pairing of “Rod and Reel” (Andrew Dawes & Rod Smith) were next fastest, taking out the All-Male Team All-Over 50 division in 2:17:30. “Zig and zag” was the most aptly named team of the day, with Janelle Ahern and Melanie Wellenberg alternating legs to bring home 1st place trophies in the All-Female Team with a combined 2:33:11. “Old Guys Rule” (Terry Eveston & Scott Kristiansen – who were indeed beaten by the older guys!) meanwhile won the All-Male Team in 3:07:53.

Once we figured out who was who in the elder ladies’ teams divisions, “Vikings Vintage 61” (Jeanette Droop & Leisa Cass) took out the All-Female Team All Over 50 division in 3:14:43; while Team “SASSY” (Helen Rubin & Karina Horton) were victorious in the All-Female Team All Over 60 with 3:37:09.

Our special thanks today to the support paddlers from Canberra Canoe Club – and to all the personal padder-helpers who cheerfully or foolishly braved the breakers – along with wholehearted assistance from the crews from the YMCA Sailing Club and medical support from Sports Medicine Australia.

“Splendid” is a word that almost suffered from over-use on Sunday 4 December, in the mouths of those describing the weather and conditions for the 14th annual Sri Chinmoy National Capital Swim. If swimmers had been asked to pre-book the conditions in advance, this is the day many would have dreamed of.

Among the Solo Simmers (No Wetsuit), the girls were right up there with the lead boys; Emma Gillingham and Isabella Coghlan both swimming superb races to place 2nd and 3rd outright. Swimming smoothly, powerfully and with great determination, Emma won the Women’s race in 2:05:10, from Isabella’s 2:07:40 and Jenna Freeman in 2:21:21.

Ben Freeman, the defending course record holder, swam a superbly controlled race over the full 9km to win outright in 1:58:45, the only competitor today (including all teams) to break the gold standard 20hour barrier. Behind him were two lion-hearted youths in Eskindir (“Skinny”) Gavel  (2:08:54) and Ned Wieland (2:10:29).

Lloyd Dobson triumphed in the Male 50-59 with 2:49:50; and Greg Gourley, a stalwart of this race,  celebrated his 60th birthday by taking out the Male 60-69 premiere trophy in 2:59:36.

Nicole Martin won the Female 50-59 in a fine 2:50:13; with Jannion Di Tommaso continuing her winning run at this race, winning the Female 60-69 in 3:15:38.

Sarah Murphy took out the Women’s (wetsuit) race in 2:44:00; while Sue Lyon took out the Female 50-59 with 3:10:30. Peter Turner won the Male 50-59 (wetsuit) with 3:03:09; and Bob Weldon the Male 60-69 (wetsuit) in 3:17:02. Geoff Llewellyn continues to amaze and inspire us all, taking out the Male 80 and Over division just days after his 83rd birthday, in 3:33:35.

A feature of the teams categories this year was the number of pairs not only participating, but doing extremely well. In the All-Female Teams, the pairing of “Claire and Katie” (Claire Fishpool and Katie Binstock) headed all of the more numerously-membered teams, winning in 2:44:06.

Three more pairs even set new course records, all in the “Veterans Teams” categories: “Rod and Reel” (Goulburn’s Andrew Dawes and Rodney Smith) broke the previous record in the All-Male Team (All Over 50) with their 2:31:48; while the illustrious pairing of Alex Gosman and Terry Dixon (“The Old Guys”) laid down a new best time for the All-Male Team (All Over 60) of 2:48:33. Yet another pair of Deborah Johns and Helen Rubin (”S.A.S.S.Y.”) set a new best-time for the All-Female Team (All Over 60) of 4:22:32.

“3 Mates and a Carp” (Greg Mitchell, Matty Hardy, Tyrone Compton and Mick Hanbury) proved too good in the All-Male Teams (Open), winning in 2:30:34; while late entry “The Swimpsons” (Oscar Johnston, Kylie Message and Guy Jones) took out the Mixed Teams division in 2:23:00.

The organisers wish to thank the members of the Canberra Canoe Club, YMCA Sailing Club and Sports Medicine Australia for their invaluable and much appreciated service. Congratulations to all swimmers who took to the water on this memorable and most enjoyable occasion.