COUNTDOWN TO JETTY SWIM CONTINUES

(Published 05/01/11)

by Steve Crendfeldt

THE countdown is in full swing for the 2011 Be Active Busselton Jetty Swim. This time next month we will be celebrating the official reopening of the Busselton Jetty, with the Jetty Fiesta on the weekend of February 5 and 6 and the swim itself on the morning of February 6.

Online entries for the swim are open up until midnight Wednesday, February 2. So far there are just over 350 individuals entered, but the locals always seem to leave it to the last minute – too busy training, obviously! The Busselton Jetty Swim committee is confident there will be more than 1000 competitors. Teams of four have had to be capped at 20 entries for the event, but there are still five spots available. If you want one you had better get your friends organised and get in quick. There are still unlimited teams of two, but don’t wait until it’s too late. Seventeen pairs have signed up already and with only a $40 entry fee per person, the atmosphere alone is worth entering.

With Kate Ceberano set to entertain at the fiesta on Saturday and Ian Moss lined up to headline Sunday’s entertainment, the swim and fiesta will be massive. It’s like there’s a party at the beach and everyone’s invited. There is still plenty of time to train, even if you have never swum before. So dust off the Speedos or the one piece; smuggle the budgie or get keen with the bikini and start swimming. With six distance options available, simply find one friend or three, if you don’t think you can swim the whole way by yourself.

More information and a training program is provided on the Busselton Jetty Swim’s website, so get to the pool or ocean and start preparing to be a part of The Be Active Busselton Jetty Swim 2011. Coupled with the Jetty Fiesta it is definitely set to be the best jetty swim in the world.

“Two of the bestswimmers from Busselton in my day were Edwina Carmichael and Faye Dunn – they were brilliant,” she said. Kerry, who left Busselton for Perth when she was 17 and then moved east when she was 20, has been back several times.

“Busselton, as I remember it back then, was a beautiful little town. The main street and shops with their verandas and the old fish and chip shop down on the waterfront near the jetty. “Everything has changed now and the old-world charm has gone, but that’s progress for you,” she said. She hopes to return for the 2011 event and has been racking her brain to try and remember those who took part in this swim with her.

The current swim was the brain child of Max Higgins and was originally arranged as an event of the Busselton Triathlon Club, starting in February 1996. The inaugural swim attracted around 80 participants, mostly locals, and from humble beginnings has blossomed. In recent years the Jetty Swim has regularly attracted competitors from interstate and overseas and in 2007 attracted more than 1000 for the first time. And in 2010, 83.27 per cent of competitors in the event were from areas outside the Shire of Busselton. A record field of more than 1200 is expected for the 2011 event to be held on February 6.