Champions & Everyday Heroes
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CHAMPIONS & EVERYDAY HEROES The 25th Anniversary of the Rottnest Channel Swim Deborah Weetman A special project commissioned by the Rottnest Channel Swim Association to commemorate twenty-five years of the Rottnest Channel Swim. 2 Champions & Everyday Heroes CONTENTS 5 Foreword 7 Introduction 9 Nyungar Whadjuk Country: Wadjemup 13 History of the Swim 27 The Largest Open Water Marathon Event in the World 43 Fremantle Port Authority 47 The Volunteers 55 The Swimmers 97 The Role of the Coach 101 The Support Crews 111 Rottnest Island 119 Register of Solo Swims 1956–2014 126 Bibliography 127 Acknowledgements 127 Photo Credits 3 FOREWORD The Rottnest Channel Swim is the largest annual event held in my electorate of Cottesloe and I am delighted to have been involved with it for many years now. In 1996, I was approached by the Rottnest Channel Swim Association to become the official starter for the race and I happily accepted the role. I have remained in this position for the past eighteen years, almost the entire time I have served as the Member for Cottesloe. There is such a great community spirit within the Rottnest Channel Swim; it is my favourite event of the year and I love being a part of it. I have also helped the Association with other issues such as the use of the beach and the decision to cancel the race in 2007, due to very bad weather. In the mid-1990s my wife, Lyn, purchased a pair of ‘red fish’ board shorts for me and I have worn them on race day ever since; in fact, they are reserved for this occasion. I broke with tradition in 2013 when I wore the North Cottesloe Primary School’s centenary board shorts but returned to wearing the ‘famous red shorts’ in 2014. They have been repaired a number of times because they have become a bit old and worn! I remember the scene many years ago when the race started in the dark and all the boats used to come into the shore to meet their swimmers; the lights from the boats made it look like a tinsel land. Since introducing the electronic time tags, swimmers now start by time rather than by line so as the swimmers push into the water, ready to start, I am sometimes waist-deep in water by the time I blow the hooter. One year a big wave loomed behind me, which nobody thought to warn me about, and smashed over the top of me — I was drenched! Due to the size of the event, the start of the race takes more than two hours because of the staggered start times. Sometimes entrants are shaking with anticipation; they are so excited to be part of the Rottnest Channel Swim. I am so impressed by the Rottnest Channel Swim organisers and volunteers who run an extremely professional event each year, with a huge emphasis on safety. And, of course, the race would not be a race without the dedication of the support crews, skippers, paddlers and swimmers who turn up every year. Swimmers travel from the eastern states and all over the world to participate in this unique event and range from teenagers to people in their seventies. The race caters for all levels of swimming ability, which means that champion swimmers arrive at Rottnest quickly while others take seven hours or more to get there, but they still make it. I have friends who enter the race every year, such as my friend from primary and secondary school, Clive Fraser, who flies in from Melbourne. I love the good humour on race day; swim teams and crews all dressed in crazy colours, sporting painted signs. This year I attended a fundraising dinner the evening before the Rottnest Channel Swim race and could not believe how many people had to leave early because they were involved with the Rottnest Channel Swim, in one capacity or another. Although the Rottnest Channel Swim started in a modest way, in 1991, it has grown into the largest open water marathon event in the world where both swimming champions and everyday people can enjoy the thrill of competing. I believe the Rottnest Channel Swim exemplifies the spirit of Western Australia, offering opportunities for excellence as well as strong support for mass participation events. Hon. Colin J. Barnett, M.L.A., Member for Cottesloe, Premier of Western Australia LEFT: Colin Barnett starting a wave of solo swimmers in 2013. 5 INTRODUCTION We are so lucky to live in Perth and have the island just across the water. The Rottnest Channel Swim Association runs the best open water swim in the world. I love the fact that the everyday person can take it on as a challenge and succeed. (Ceinwen Roberts) If you stand on Cottesloe Beach, at the foot of the iconic Indiana Tea House, and look beyond the churning waves to the horizon, you will see an island. It sits on the edge of the world, between the sky and the sea, rising out of the ocean with majestic beauty. This is Rottnest Island or Wadjemup. LEFT: Swimmers congratulate eachother at the finish line. RIGHT: Wave of swimmers leave Cottesloe Beach. 7 LEFT: The scene on Cottesloe Beach at the start of the race is incredible. Thousands of people are cheering everyone off. (Colin Barnett) The year 2015 marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of the official Rottnest Channel Swim event, a 19.7 kilometre race from Cottesloe Beach to the clear blue waters of Thomson Bay, Rottnest. From its humble beginnings of forty-four competitors in 1991, the open-water marathon now boasts the largest number of swim participants, for an event of its type, in the world. The scene on Cottesloe Beach at the start of the race is incredible. Thousands of people are cheering everyone off then there are thousands of people waiting on Rottnest Island to greet the competitors when they come in. There is great camaraderie. (Colin Barnett) Over 3000 swimmers applied to enter the 2014 Rottnest Channel Swim Race, with 2300 swimmers participating, in keeping with the Rottnest Channel Swim’s guidelines on number of swimmers and support boats allowed in the water at one time. Marathon swimming is not for the faint-hearted. It is an endurance sport which comes with the risk of sunburn, seawater inhalation, seasickness, fatigue, hypothermia, turbulent weather conditions and the possibility of sharks. However, this does not deter open water swimmers who share a common bond, a passion for their sport. They exemplify courage and persistence; failure does not enter their vocabulary. Successful old-hand soloists train younger swimmers for the Rottnest Channel Swim race; they want to pass on their knowledge and see others succeed. The following pages describe how the race evolved from a challenge undertaken in 1956 to the establishment of the Rottnest Channel Swim Association (RCSA) in 1989 and the 8 Champions & Everyday Heroes creation of an event which attracts swimmers from all over the world. Many people assist with the event, ranging from sponsors and official organisations, such as the Fremantle Port Authority, to the hundreds of volunteers who help in the days leading up to and during the event. Of course the event would not be an event without the swimmers and their support crews. The swimmers featured in this book embody the spirit of the Rottnest Channel Swim. Their voices represent the different types of people who have entered the swim over the last twenty-five years and include competitive marathon swimmers and local heroes along with those seeking personal challenges or undertaking charity swims, and team swimmers who just want to have fun. Their stories highlight the training regimes required for a long- distance swim, the conditions they face in the open water, the mental battle of swimming for so many hours and the celebration of success. ‘Rottnest, for some, is not just the swim but who they become in the process. It is about personal endeavour.’ (Shelley Taylor-Smith) NYUNGAR WHADJUK COUNTRY: WADJEMUP Whadjuk Country extends along the coastline from approximately Rockingham (forty-seven kilometres south of Perth) to Jurien Bay (220 kilometres north of Perth) and reaches inland approximately thirty-three kilometres, as far as the Darling Scarp. Stories from long ago tell of Nyungar Whadjuk people walking along sandbanks from Walyalup (Fremantle area) to a hill or high point, known as Wadjemup, which literally translates to Place of the Emu. Professor Len Collard, a Nyungar linguist and cultural specialist, breaks down the meaning of Wadjemup LEFT: Colin Barnett wearing his famous ‘red fish’ board shorts at race start. Introduction 9 to ‘Wadj’ (also spelled ‘Weitch’) meaning ‘emu’, and ‘up’ meaning ‘place of’. It was a place of RIGHT: Map of Nyungar Whadjuk Country. ‘Aboriginal celebration and cultural healing’. Approximately 6000 to 10,000 years ago, Wadjemup separated from the mainland, after the sea levels rose, and became an island. Ancient Aboriginal artefacts from this time, possibly tens of thousands of years old, were discovered at Wadjemup indicating its role as a place of ceremony. Europeans first came upon Wadjemup during the seventeenth century when Dutch navigators were searching for a shorter route from the Cape of Good Hope to Batavia. Samuel Volkerson and his Dutch crew were the first Europeans to land on Wadjemup in 1658 and in 1696 Willem de Vlamingh, the next recorded visitor, named the island Rottnest, after he mistook the abundance of quokkas for giant rats. The British first settled on Wadjemup in 1829, shortly after the Swan River Colony was established, and adopted the Dutch name of Rottnest for the island across the water.