THE popular Noosa Summer Swim has announced it will expand to a two-day program for the 2017 event.
Now in its fourth year, the Noosa Summer Swim program will expand to include a 5km grand prix event on Sunday 12 February, and organisers expect the new format will attract over 1500 swimmers along with more than 4000 supporters to the region.
The new event, a marathon distance swim, will attract Australia’s leading open water swimmers and World Series Swims director John Guise said the new addition was a by-product of the sports growing popularity.
“Our participation levels, nationwide, have been growing steadily over the past few years, and now swimmers are looking for new challenges,” he said.
“The longer distances, like 5km, are the equivalent of stepping up to a half marathon or a full marathon in running. Naturally, people like to push their limits, so we’ll continue to expand our events and introduce new products.”
Since the inception, the Noosa Summer Swim has attracted an all-star cast of past and present Olympians including Libby Trickett, Emma Snowsill, Jan Frodeno and Ambassdor Michael Klim.
In 2016, 1960 Rome Olympics gold medallist and Noosa resident John Konrads, presented the winners trophies alongside Libby Trickett. One of those recipients was Sunshine Coast local and 2016 Rio Olympian, Chelsea Gubecka.
Saturday 11 February will offer a similar program of events to past years with short and long courses and the Junior Giants events, designed for kids aged eight to 16 years. Kids also get to swim alongside special guests which in 2016 included Bondi Rescue star Deano Gladstone and Michael Klim.
This summer, the Noosa Summer Swim is also lending its support to the fight against kids’ cancer through a new national partnership that will see thousands of swimmers get behind The Kids Cancer Project.
Online entries and information on all Noosa Summer Swim events is now available at www.worldseriesswims.com.au.
