Geraldton started national day off with splash for 2025 Champion Bay Australia Day Challenge Swim

Australia Day started bright and early for a number of dedicated swimmers who competed in the Champion Bay Australia Day Swim Challenge on Sunday.

The swim was broken up into four distances — 500m, 1km, 3km and 6km — giving everyone a chance to have a crack.

With a concerning number of blue bottles washing up on the shores of the Mid West over the week due to unusual nor’-westerly gusts, Champion Bay Surf Life Saving Club president Peter Nelson said they had cleared for the race on Sunday.

“It was the most amount of blue bottles that I’ve seen over that week ever,” he said.

“Lucky enough for us, a change of wind gust led to the clearing of the blue bottles and we were ready to race.”

The day proved to be a great success.

This weekend, Geraldton hosts the Big Ocean Community Swim.

The open water swim series is one of the largest events of its kind in Australia and attracts between 500 to 1000 swimmers from across the country. It will take place at Champion Bay on Saturday, February 1.

RESULTS

500m Females:

1st: Molly Evans

2nd: Indi Read

500m Males:

1st: Thomas Steele

2nd: Thisaga Abeysekara

1km Open Males:

1st: Bodhi Smith

2nd: Isaac Hayes

1km Open Females:

1st: Sahara Coyle

2nd: Emma Marks

3km Open Males:

1st: Justin Singleton

2nd: Jonathan Howell

6km Open Males:

1st: Nick Adam

1km 35+ Males:

1st: Peter Coyle

2nd: James Pluschke

1km 35+ Females:

1st: Nicole Whittle

2nd: Narissa Bertelsen

3km 35+ Males:

1st: Adrian O’Malley

2nd: Wayne Ryan

3km 35+ Females:

1st: Megan Brand

2nd: Louise Oliveri

6km 35+ Males:

1st: Mark Adam

2nd: Paul Taylor