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Grand tour of marine reserve
Manly Wharf Hotel Ocean Swim
Sunday, February 24, 2008 |
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| Event |
Manly Wharf Hotel Ocean Swim, 2km, 1km (incl. "Australian Ocean Swimming Championships")
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| Date, times |
Sunday, February 24, 2008, 9:30 am (1 km), 10:30 am (2 km).
Registration from 7:30am on the promenade next to Manly surf club, at the southern end of the beach. |
| Organiser |
Manly LSC |
| Major sponsors |
Manly Wharf Hotel |
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The oceanswims.com course around Manly on two occasions last season, one for the Manly Wharf Hotel Swim, the other over the Cole Classic course. The Manly Wharf swim extends beyond Fairy Bower.
Check out that bottom, too, courtesy of Goggle Earth. Lots of haunts for sea life there.
What you can't see, and what all those student scuba divers do see, is the motorbike skeleton positioned at the point marked with an i on the pic, propped up as if ready for use. |
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| Course |
Two very interesting courses --
The shorter swim runs from Shelley Beach, across Cabbage Tree Bay, around Manly Point and into Manly beach. This takes the swimmer across some of the most interesting (marine) bottom in Sydney. Cabbage Tree Bay is a marine reserve, which means all kinds of sea life has come to realise that it can frolic and gambol about the sea here, safe from boofheads of all kinds, apart from the myriad but common scuba diving students that pepper the bottom.
The longer swim follows a different, but equally fascinating course, a circuit journey, if you like, from Manly Beach, out past Fairy Bower point and over the reef, back around the point, along Shelley Beach, around the Cabbage Tree Bay littoral -- so you get that frolicking, gambolling bottom -- and around the point back into the beach. It's a glorious journey through some of the most beautiful, bountiful sea in Sydney. |
| Conditions |
The shorter swim has a sheltered beach start at Shelley Beach, along a relatively sheltered course, although there will be some exposure to swell as the peloton approaches Manly Point and enters through the break.
The longer swim can be spectacular and dramatic, with several crossings of breaks - out and in at Manly beach, and maybe a break off Fairy Bower - traversing relatively shallow water over the reef and along the rocky shore in fairly sheltered water, before back in through the break at Manly. If there is a sea running, it can certainly be spectacular, and very, very unique for the sensation it offers swimming through a point break some distance offshore. It's a wonderful swim, exciting. One of the best courses in Stray'a. |
| Years run, Starters last time |
Our figures show 485 in the main swim last season and 176 in the shorter swim. This surprises us, since this swim usually pulls many more than that. What was the cause of those figures? Usually around 800 in the main swim alone. Last season's swim was called off after the first couple of waves, on the grounds of blueys. In past years, this swim has attracted c. 1,000 swimmers, and is building following its establishment three years ago, after the move of the Cole Classic to Manly.
Event running more than 20 years. |
| Prizes |
Prize winners should be present to collect prizes.
The Australian Ocean Swimming Championship (Open Event)
1st Male/Female - $300
2nd Male/Female - $200
3rd Male/Female - $100
Age division and team winners & placegetters receive a prize.
Age group swimmers are not eligible for the Australian Open
Swimming Championship. |
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The Manly Wharf Hotel course. |
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| Categories |
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2km swim -
- Open
- Under 18
- 18-24
- 25-29
- 30-34
- 35-39
- 40-44
- 45-49
- 50-54
- 55-59
- 60-64
- 65+
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1km swim -
- Nipper Under 12
- Nipper Under 14
- Novice Female
- Novice Male
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All categories have both Male and Female divisions. |
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| Contact, further info |
All enquiries to Manly Life Saving Club Phone 9977 2742 or email. |
| Eligibility |
Public, but only those swimmers who have trained
for the event and can swim the course with confidence should enter. |
| Water safety |
Manly LSC
Organisers say: "It should be noted that each event is a
demanding event and swimmers enter at their
own personal risk and are responsible for their
physical condition. Motorised rescue craft,
oared surf boats, ski and board paddlers will
be patrolling the course for the duration of the
Event. If a swimmer feels unable to complete
the course they should attract the attention
of the water safety personnel and assistance
will be provided.
Swimmers should train for the event and have
a medical check prior to the Event. A swimmer
deemed incapable of finishing the course may
be brought to shore at any time. Any swimmer
who does pull out of the race must notify officials
on the beach immediately.
For the protection
and safety of all swimmers, water safety and
control is under the authority of Manly
Life Saving Club at all times." |
| Max./Min. ages |
Minimum age 9 |
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The water at Manly in the last few seasons has been so beautifully clear, you can see for fathoms. Makes it easier to pick up all those stroke idiosyncracies.
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| oceanswims.com says |
This is a real classic. An exciting, fascinating course. And a terrific venue.
If you consider yourself an ocean swimmer, you must do this swim!
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| Entries |
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Start |
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2km |
10.30 am |
9 |
$30 |
$40 |
1km |
9.30 am |
9 |
$20 |
$20 |
Race day entry fees for 2km swim attract $10 surcharge, to wit $40 total.
Mail entries close 5pm, Wednesday, February 20, 2008. Race day entries close 30 minutes prior to race start.
Click here to download hard copy entry form (pdf file)
On-line entries close midnight, Friday, February 22, 2008.
Click here to enter online.
Click here to download entry form (as a pdf file) for further information and/or to enter by mail.
Click here to check progress entries received on-line. |
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The meleé off the beach at Manly. The organisers changed the direction of the course a few seasons back to run it clockwise rather than the reverse, thus providing a long first leg before a significant turn. This allows the peloton to spread out, helping to mollify imbroglios on the first turn. |
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