The Be Active Busselton Jetty Swim 2012

The 2012 Be Active Busselton Jetty Swim went off seemingly without a hitch, thanks to our dedicated team of committee members and volunteers.  I've been told by swimmers and the general public that everything seems to run smoothly.  If only they knew the amount of preparation that goes into an event like this.  Also the weather helped a lot this year, with cal weather making for calm people.

This year, the generous support from our sponsors of all levels enabled us to put on an event with entertainment and professional equipment to bring about a major locally run sporting event which not only promotes swimming but provides a whole weekend of activities and entertainment.  The additional of a cycling event to join the swim and half marathon running events is an option for the future.

Our event saw a record number of entrants with 1433 swimmers registering in total, including solos and teams which after withdrawals, still had 1345 swimmers who all received finisher towels.  The lucky ones got to hi-five Simon the Seagull.

The course record was smashed by Travis Nederpelt with a time of 40 minutes and 04 second, beating the previous best time by nearly 2 minutes.  I think next year we could offer an incentive for the first swimmers to go under 40 minutes and maybe an adjustment for female competitors, to be fair.

Our new swim pontoons for the changeover points worked well and next year's event will work even better when the swimmers realise what they are for and how to use them.

Our new mascot Simon the Seagull was a great success, promoting our event before at the Festival of Busselton Float Parade and during the weekend of the event.  I can see many more opportunities throughout the year for Simon the Seagull to promote our event to the public.

We took the decision to shift the date of next year's event to the second weekend in February to make it easier for people getting sorted after school holidays.

Next year will have new challenges with the foreshore work being done but we always seem to overcome these little obstacles.  A positive from this will be an extra landing to use at the end of the jetty which should ease the congestion for team changeovers.

Once again it is obvious to me, that we have a great team who all know their special areas of expertise in which to put this great event together.