What an exciting few weeks it has been! Olympic fever is certainly building in Australia!! Have you been watching the Australian Swimming Championships (pool), which double as the Olympic Qualifiers??? There is still 2 and a half days of racing left – for updates visit my athlete page https://www.facebook.com/pages/Chloe-McCardel-Marathon-Swimmer/199900896709592

 

In other recent news… On February 25th I swam the Rottnest Island Marathon starting on Cottesloe Beach (WA) and finishing on Rottnest Island – 20km. It was a glorious day in the water with bumpy, but good conditions. I was not alone in this swim (unlike the English Channel) as there were over 2000 competitors in different categories – including 220 solo swimmers like myself. I found it difficult to find my rhythm in the first 10km and was well back in the field. The second (and last!) 10km I really found some pace and speed and passed 13 solos (both men and women) and I was not overtaken once! I finished the race 2nd woman – to Jess Walker. Jess had an amazing swim and well deserved the win. This was her 6th Rottnest marathon but her first the women’s winner – well done Jess :) The male winner, Jarrad Lawford (24 years), suffered kidney disease three years ago and has spent the past 12 months training for the event. How inspirational!

 

The men’s race favourite and fastest male swimmer– on paper, was Paul Laver. From unconfirmed reports he was treated for sea sickness and dehydration during the swim and after that he was pulled out of the race 2km from the finish with hypothermia. If true, this is another example of how marathon swimming is just so different from pool swimming as there are so many variable involved – including get your feeds right, wind, waves, water temp, air temp, tide, current, flotsam & jetsom, shipping lanes, sea creatures, salinity levels, feeds, piloting and support crew decisions, etc… Which reinforces why you can’t really compare marathon swim times on different days and years. I was aiming for a top two placing in the women’s category and I achieved that, which was great. This was my first marathon since being hospitalized (and 30min from death) in the English Channel last year (July, 2011). So my main focus was to blow away the cobwebs and finish the swim strongly and without any lung pain/discomfort which I had been experiencing over the last few months (despite getting the 100% all-clear from a lung specialist!!). Dr Sountanov from Bioeffectives/Siberian Red has been an INCREDIBLE support getting my lungs back to health after an up and down 6 months since the channel. There are SO MANY people to thank from the Rottnest Island swim (see below)*.

Another exciting development includes being able to announce my calendar for 2012! My main swims are as follows:

1. Rottnest Island 20km swim, AUSTRALIA – COMPLETED, February 25th (Race)
2. Lake Zurich, SWITZERLAND – August 5th, 26km, (Race)
3. English Channel Triple Attempt, ENLAND- September 7th-14th, 112km+, (Solo event)
4. World Record Swim Attempt- To be Announced… (Solo event)

My major swims will require some MAJOR FUNDRAISING which I am working on now… I would love and REALLY APPRECIATE your support. I will let you know how you can help in the next blog

 

Also, some recent media:

• Effortless Swimming Interview with Brenton Ford- covering English Channel swimming: http://effortlessswimming.com/podcast/8-the-english-channel-episode-with-chloe-mccardel/
• Swimstyle Magazine- http://www.swimannual.com/2011_edition.htm (page 50 & 51)

I will be in touch soon! Happy swimming :)

Chloe

* A Big THANKS to Paul who came all the way from Melbourne to support me, Mark (paddler), Jane (assistant), Daniel (navigator), Chris and Paul (boat owners and pilots) and the Rottnest Channel and Swimming Association who put on an extremely well-organised, safe, professional and enjoyable race (a special thanks to Stacey and Jess too!). Thanks also to Dr. Soultanov and all the Bioeffectives team for bringing me back to great health