AFTER nearly forty years of taking the San Remo Channel Challenge Aquathon from its humble beginnings as an event with 57 competitors in 1986, the organizers from the Woolamai Beach SLSC and the Bass Coast Shire have finally realized their goal of having 700+ competitors enter the 2024 event thirty-eight years later and we saw the biggest lineup of participants ever in a Victorian Aquathon lined up on the San Remo foreshore last Saturday.
How proud would those two veterans – Lyall Williams and Dennis Harris – the inaugural founders of the iconic Channel Challenge, have been if they were still here to see the record number of nearly 750 competitors lined up on the beach to tackle the swim across to Newhaven followed by the run back over the bridge to finish at the San Remo Hotel, which is still owned by Lyall’s family.
The almost perfect conditions attracted competitors from as far afield as Albury and Canada, plus a team of elite triathletes from the Victorian Institute of Sport, and the 38th staging of the event saw entries exceed the previous record by more than a hundred, similar to what happened at Cape Paterson for the first leg of the Bass Coast Series three weeks ago. After six years of disruptions from weather and the Covid epidemic the organisers were blessed with an ideal date, time of day and most importantly a sunny sky and mild breeze. We now hope to see the Cowes Classic and Little Penguin Dash events also up in numbers on March 2.
Entries poured in over the last three days and many prospective entrants had to be turned away when they failed to register online by the cutoff time on Friday evening. It is now believed the Channel Challenge could become a capped event with a limit of somewhere in the 700 – 800 range and entries will be taken on a ‘First In, First Served” basis and that will make the job far easier for the organizing committee.
Discussions will take place based on the aspects of water safety management, the limited space at the start, congestion on the track and stairs to the transition area and a decision will be based on what number can be managed properly while also maintaining 100% safety conditions for the competitors.
The race briefing was well conducted by race referee, Graeme Burgan, with the assistance of John Dickie as guest starter, and there was a huge cheer when the announcement of the new category for the O/60 competitors was announced. Graeme and the official timing guru, Geoff Nield, picked the change of tide perfectly and sent off the four waves at one- and two-minute intervals, with the biggest wave being the 230 female competitors in their pink caps.
The race itself had a very exciting finish when the first two competitors, Callum McClusky, and Chris Deegan, emulated their battle at Cape Paterson by striding down the bridge only a metre apart but Callum pulled away again to win by 4.5 seconds after having won at Cape Paterson by 3.2 seconds. They are two elite competitors and at the presentations Callum mentioned that his immediate goal is to try to qualify for the Australian Triathlon team at the Paris Olympics.
A Junior Male, Gab Incani, came in fourth with the first female home, Zoe Clarke from the V.I.S., in fifth position and the first junior female, Kiara Mooney (V.I.S) rounded out the top ten. Local Masters (O/40) competitor, Justin Tilley, again finished top ten in 7th place. Local female, Zoe Adams, did well to finish third in the open section behind two V.I.S. competitors and local junior, Lara Smyth, finished second in the open category. The local junior male’s category saw Will Campbell and Reece McLeod separated by only nine seconds at the finish. Locals dominated the new O/60 category with Rob Fleisner winning the open and local categories and Carol Brewster won the local category and finished second in the open section.
There were 230 local individual competitors in the field which was 40% of the total and this shows that the Bass Coast community has really embraced these events and looks forward to them each summer. The relay section has also become an important component and with over 60 teams this year it means that another 120+ people are able to take part in the event. Tom McNish and Dylan Muir ran the fastest relay of the event while the best mixed team was Lachlan and Bethany Barrett, and the fastest female team was Rachel Costello and Kylie Wookey.
Once again, the organizers and the Woolamai Beach Surf Life Saving Club would like to thank the partner sponsors and the many people who contribute to the management and running of the event. It has become a big operation with lots of volunteers from not only the WBSLSC but also the S.E.S., Rotary, and other organizations and it has now become an event that benefits many sections of the community - an event that the whole Bass Coast Community should be proud of producing.