The 9th annual Sri Chinmoy National Capital Swim – the 9 km length of Canberra's Lake Burley Griffin – was held on Sunday 2 December 2012.
A still, quiet start to the day boded well for smooth swimming and fast times, though after about half way clouds gathered and a westerly wind picked up, making the second half considerably tougher than the first.
In all, 34 solo swimmers (with a record of 28 swimming sans wetsuit) and 7 relay teams started – and all completed the race. Swimmers came from many parts of mostly ACT, NSW and Victoria.
Ours and the crowd's favourite competitor, Geoff Llewellyn – who celebrated his 79th birthday the day before the race – finished first in his category (70+) in the excellent time of 3:02:14.
The superb Oliver Bourne – as has become his custom – took line honours again, the only swimmer to break the magical 2-hour mark in 1:58:05, though this year he opted to wear a wetsuit against the cold.
Warren Keegan was fastest without a wetsuit, finishing in 2:05:44 from Justin Hanby (2:12:25) and Adam Rudgley (2:13:27).
An impressive 5 swimmers competed in the Male 50-59s (no wetsuit), with Mark Wieland taking the main prize and a new course record for this category with a fine 2:30:56. Michael Christie was first in the Male 60-69 (no wetsuit) in 3:46:52.
Brooke James swam alone for most of the race, well clear of her rivals with an impressive 2:21:56 on debut in the Women under 50 (no wetsuit); from Sandy Grekas in 2:48:15, Tara Booth (2:52:17) and Kiri Nothdurft (2:57:20). Bernadette Skelly (3:01:55) came in first in the Women 50-59 (no wetsuit), just ahead of her friend and rival Janet Gorst (3:03:53).
Kat Malarska was the fastest in the Female Under 50 (with wetsuit) with 2:30:29.
First All-Male Team All Over 50 was "Rubadubdub" (Ron Brent, John Kennedy and Geoff Barker) in 3:27:52. First All-Male Team outright were "4 mates" (Greg Mitchell, Nigel Freeman, Matt Hardy and Steve Baker) in 2:26:35. The leading Mixed Team – the most competitive of the Teams divisions with 5 entrants – was "Zigzags" ((Janelle Ahern, David Harmer and Melanie Wellenberg) in 2:39:04. First All-Female Team was the "Viking Dynamic Duo" of Anne Smyth and Caroline Makin in 2:36:28.
A note concerning the results: due to the moving of the second transition from Yarralumla Bay this year, the second leg was shorter than usual. Therefore, times recorded for the second leg in 2012 were not considered eligible for course record times for this leg – though the overall times do count as the overall distance was about the same as usual.
A relaxed and satisfied atmosphere pervaded the finish area with most swimmers very happy with their efforts and results.
10-times English Channel swimmer, Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team member Karteek Clarke of Edinburgh was on hand to present the awards after the race, and chatted with several swimmers about their prospects of a Channel crossing in the near future.
Full results for the race – both overall and by category – are published, along with a photo album from the day.
