Australian Sweep at the Pacific Swims

Photo on left shows English Channel swimmer Anne Cleveland, 10K winner James Cahill, 3K winner Kate Brookes-Peterson and Olympian Melissa Gorman, women's 10K winner, at the end of Pacific Swims' Fiji Ocean Swim Series.




Nerang Swimming Club coach John Papuni and Brookes-Peterson (shown in the photo on left) were joined by Cleveland in an open water swimming clinic before the Series.





Pacific Swims annually hosts the Fiji Ocean Swim Series that includes 1.5K, 3K and 10K ocean races off the Plantation and Lomani Island Resorts. The 10K race also doubled as the sanctioned Fiji National Open Water Championships.

The 10K race saw swimmers from New Zealand, Australia, the United States and Fiji experience all kinds of conditions from start to finish. At the start on Plantation Island, the field face winds at their side and uneven chop. As the swimmers made their way around the island, the swells became significantly larger until they swam on the lee side of the island in flat shallow water. As they came back around to the finish, they headed straight into the wind under cloudless skies.

Upper photos provided by Anne Cleveland.

Lower photo shows the beach start area of the Fiji Ocean Swims on Plantation Island.