Random Thoughts On The 2010 Rottnest Channel Swim

Registrations for the wildly popular 19.2K WAtoday Rottnest Channel Swim will open only from 8 am on November 2nd to 5 pm on November 8th. ext year's 20th Anniversary of the popular The 2010 race, to be held on February 20th, will be the 20th anniversary of the world's most popular open water swimming relay, held in the rough water Indian Ocean between Cottesloe Beach in Perth on the west coast of Australia and Rottnest Island. The event offers a solo category in addition to relays teams of two and four.

Rottnest Channel Swim Association president Ceri Writer, interviewed by the WAtoday, said, "This event is always a great day in Perth's calendar, but with 20 years of achievements to celebrate, the 2010 swim promises to be the best yet. This huge community event includes the spectrum of people from serious swimmers and recreational boat owners to volunteers and corporate and government stakeholders, and we are celebrating them all in 2010. We expect there to be a record number of entries this year for the 20th Anniversary Swim."

The event is so popular, that the organizing committee uses a random ballot system to pick the swimmers, proving the sport of open water swimming is becoming ever more global with an increasing large number of international swimmers from South Africa, England, Ireland, Japan, India and the USA.

WAtoday posted the following Rottnest Channel Swim records:

Fastest man: Mark Saliba - 4:00:15 in 2000
Fastest woman: Tamara Bruce (Natural Jetty finish) 4:10:03 in 1993; Bronwyn Whitehead (Thomson Bay finish) 4:25:53 in 2000
Fastest male duo: Timewise (Jarrad Nederpelt, Travis Nederpelt) - 3:55:54 in 2001
Fastest female duo: Skea Racing (Trudee Hutchinson, Lauren Arndt) - 4:39:01 in 2004
Fastest male team: The Invincibles (Jarrad Nederpelt, Aaron Holding, Travis Nederpelt, Josh Sinclair) - 3:43:02 in 2004
Fastest female team women: Steve Smith's Aspire Fitness (Melissa Benson, Diane Bevan, Natalie Benson, Tammie Smith) - 4:14:47 in 2001

For two looks at the 2009 race, click here or here





Photo by the Rottnest Express.

Copyright © 2009 by World Open Water Swimming Association