A postal swim involves swimming an event without travelling to a swim meet. You can swim the event at a time and pool that suits you within a specific time frame but you need to have someone to time and record your split times. The times are posted to the organising club and the results are posted back at a later date.
There are a variety of postal swims conducted throughout the year that may interest many of our members. Details of all postal swims can be found in the Postal Swim folder at the pool during endurance sessions and flyers are on the Australian Masters Swimming Postal Swims webpage.
Nicolee Martin is our Postal Swim coordinator. There is a folder for Postal Swims which is be kept in the Endurance Swims bag. There will be an information sheet (please don’t remove this) and multiple entry forms for each of the swims.
Calendar of Postal Swims for 2022
The first postal swim of the year is the British Long Distance Swimming Association’s Postal Swims run from January-April. For the One-Hour Swim Challenge, as the title of the swim suggests, it’s simply a case of swimming for an hour and seeing how many metres you cover! The BLDSA also offer a 30-Minute Swim Challenge. You can enter online individually and pay by credit card.
During the entire year you can “Swim around the Singleton Sundial in and become a Member of the Secret Society of Sundial Swimming!” The Singleton Sundial Postal Swim consists of 12 swims to be swum in any stroke within a 12 month period- i.e. one swim relating to each hour of a sundial i.e. 1 o’clock 100m … 12 o’clock 1200m. [NOTE: This swim is not currently being offered during 2022].
At the start of the year, there is also the Wests Auburn 5000m Tutle Swim. The 5000m distance is required to be swum by an individual or by a team from January-April. This is also a great kick off for your endurance swims. Imagine how many ways you can split 5000m? You can swim the distance in Freestyle, Breaststroke, Backstroke or 4 x 1250m IM. You can swim freestyle or in a formstroke relay with other club members as 2 x 2500m, 5 x 1000m, 10 x 500m or even the dazzling 4 x 1250m Medley Relay if you wish. Not to mention getting ahead on your million metres!
From April-June you can “unleash the animal within” by swimming the following 5 events in one day: 200m Butterfly, 200m Backstroke, 200m Breaststroke, 400m IM or 800m Freestyle for the Baddaginnie Animal Swim run by Surrey Park Seahorses.
In May/June it is time for one of our favourites … the Bunbury Winter Postal Swim … 3 x 400m swims (Freestyle, Backstroke and Breaststroke OR Butterfly) … swims can be done at aerobic swim sessions, training sessions (before or during) or any time that there is someone to timekeep! As 400m swims are part of the aerobic swim program, you can swim one of each stroke in both May and June and the fastest of the three required swims will be selected for the Bunbury entry.
In July try and swim between one and three 1500m swims and enter the Toowoomba Tadpoles Postal Swim … It is simple, you just need to pace yourself to complete a 1500m swim in either a 25m or 50m pool. You can choose from freestyle, breaststroke and/or backstroke, but the entire 1500 must be of one stroke only. Thus, each swimmer may do more than one postal swim of each stroke.
We have our very own Tuggeranong Trifecta … three swims (a 400m, an 800m and a 1500m) … each in a different stroke. The 400m or the 800m may be swum as an Individual Medley. The trifecta must be swum during July/August.
New for 2022, Clarence River Masters are running their inagural postal swim, in honour of their founding member, David Abrahams. The David Abrahams Memoral Virtual Meet will run from August to October and includes six swims across 50m, 100m, 200m or 400m distances in all four strokes.
In the 3 months from September to November try 4,900m total distance, Swimming Up Hills Postal Swim (in sequence please to help you prepare for the final ascent) comprising of: 2 x 400m, 2 x 800m, 1 x 1000m, 1 x 1500m.
