Balmoral Swim 5-10km

On 22nd of December just 3 days before Christmas a simple 5Km and 10km Balmoral swim was organized.
Vlad, Viki and Charm with other volunteers focused on one thing that day – to run the first Vladswim open water event smoothly.
The 10Km swim was organized for swimmers who needed to qualify for other oceans swims such as Rottnest or Cole classic. Swim was also open to those who wanted to challenge themselves, to see if they can swim the 5 or 10Km distance and check on their swimming progress.

Preparations started just after 6am – registration desks were set up, water safety team assembled buoys in the water to mark 2.5Km course.
After 7am everything was ready to and first swimmers arrived.
In the group you could see athletes of all age categories, but the most dominant were 50-59 and then 40-49. This just shows that the age does not play a big role in sport.

We also saw extreme marathon swimmers such as Tara Diversi, Stuart Johnson and Tori Gorman who swam 2012 English Channel to join us for their first long swim after the crossing.

Briefing took place at approximately 7:45am and swimmers were advised on safety, swim course and swim direction. To support the swimmers before their event Vlad announced “guys, you have survived the end of the world yesterday, you will survive this swim”

5 km finishers started to emerge from the water just after 1 hour. First one overall was Scott Miers with a great time 1:10:09. Second swimmer Suzy Nicoletti arrived in time 1:16:38 and third was Niell Boustred with time 1:20:30. Last swimmer to complete this distance was Helen Rubin in 60+ category. We would like to congratulate her for the great swim.

10km course was completed by Iain Melhuish in time 2:19:55. Right behind him was Talbot Henry. His time was 2:22:17 and third swimmer Jason Connor in time 2:25:17.
All three swimmers were from Vladswim squad.

For some of the swimmers, this was their very first time to attempt 5Km or 10Km swimming distance in the open water environment. They may have been a little nervous but they successfully completed the distance.
We are very proud of their achievements. What a fabulous pre-Christmas gift, knowing that you can push your swimming boundaries even further and that you have burned some calories form the Christmas dinner.

We would like to say thank you to all swimmers who made this swim so relaxed and enjoyable.

We wish you all Merry Christmas and Happy New Year
See you in 2013
Vladswim team

Testimonials:

From: David F
Sent: Saturday, 22 December 2012 3:30 PM
To: info@vladswim.com.au
Subject: Thank You

Hi Charm and Vlad,

Thank you so much for hosting today’s event. It was a lovely swim and also a relief to knock off my Rotto qualifier.

Your fantastic swim community makes me wish I live in Sydney!

Have a great Christmas.

Thanks again.

David F

From: Thomas K
Sent: Sunday, 23 December 2012 11:03 AM
To: Charmian Frend
Cc: info@vladswim.com.au
Subject: Balmoral
Hi Charm, Vlad and the Team
Many thanks of organizing the Balmoral swim yesterday, great swim,
See you back in January .

Wishing you a very merry Christmas , a great start into the new year 2013
and Einen Guten Rutsch into the New year 🙂

Cheers Thomas