On Sunday 21 February, eight students, two staff members and a committed group of parents and siblings fronted up to support the Rainbow Club’s Malabar Magic Ocean Swim at Malabar Beach. Swimming in less than favourable conditions, the Newington College team battled on to complete the race to help raise money for the Rainbow Club. 

The Rainbow Club is a charity organisation whose aim is to give children with a disability the opportunity and confidence to extend their abilities through swimming.  The Rainbow Club has a strong association with Newington College – one of their branches is based at our swimming pool every Saturday afternoon.

In preparation for the swim, the students practiced doing 500m sets to get used to swimming the distance. Year 8 swimmer Zak Murray (8/MO) said, “I really enjoy swimming and when I found out there was going to be a 1km ocean swim I quickly decided to do it. The good thing about this particular swim was the fact that it was for charity.”

On race day, there was rain and sporadic lightning making many swimmers nervous. The event organisers tried to ease everyone’s jitters by telling a couple of jokes over the loudspeaker before the 9:00 AM start.

Another competitor, Liam Wood (11/PR), pointed out his sense of achievement at having completed the race in such tough conditions. “It was great to know that I put myself in a pretty uncomfortable, cold and wet position on the day, for the benefit of someone else. It would have been very easy to pull out, but I didn’t!”

“I would recommend this swim to others,” he continued, “especially if they’re new to ocean swimming, because the water is pretty flat, so it’s a good way to ease into the sport. And of course, the feeling of achievement when you finish is great”.

A big pat on the back to all seven Swim Club members who completed the 1km ocean swim:

• Nik Albin (9/FL)
• Tom Ball (9/KL)
• Isaac Carriline (9/MO)
• Zak Murray (8/MO) 
• Finn Oddy (10/LE)
• Tom Petkovich (10/JN)
• Luca Polvere (10/KL)

Congratulation also to Liam Wood (11/PR) and Director of Aquatics, Mr Ryan Moar, on completing the 2.4km ocean swim.

A number of other students including Charlie Farr-Jones (7/JN) and William Gray (7/KL) also took part and we commend them on their stellar efforts!