CITY FORD SYDNEY
BONDI BLUE WATER
CHALLENGE
The City Ford Sydney Bondi Blue Water Challenge
was held on Sunday 3rd March 2024. Due to
conflicts with the dates for the Sydney Branch and
NSW Championships, the event was moved out
one week from its usual last Sunday in February.
This year’s event kept the same format introduced
in 2023; 500m, 1.5km and 3km distance swims and
a 2km and 4km soft sand run. The conditions on
the day offered waves to negotiate at the start
but with fairly flat conditions around the bay.
Congratulations to all the swimmers and runners.
Entries were fairly consistent with last year with
502 unique participants. The 500m swim had 82
competitors, the 1.5km swim had 298 competitors
and there were 112 competitors in the 3km swim.
Participation in the soft sand runs was consistent
with last year with 28 competitors in the 2km and 21
competitors in the 4km events.
We were once again grateful for the support from
our sponsor City Ford Sydney. Thank you to their
Marketing team who helped to organise prizes and
volunteer t-shirts. Their team was there on race day
to greet participants, show off a few Ford vehicles
and hand out prizes. Thank you to Courtney
Menzies and Georgia-Rose Purtill, plus the rest
of the City Ford Sydney team for their generous
support.
Harris Farm Markets donated products for the BBQ
and fruit for the finish line. We greatly appreciate
their support of this event, Bondi Surf Club and the
local community. Thank you, Luke Harris and team.
Thank you to our Members overseeing the key
support functions, with Simon Smith covering
safety management, Mason Kemeny for water
safety, Stefanie Herdeg for first aid support and
Alex MacLaughlin for IRB support.
Thank you to our IRB crew who helped inflate
the swim buoys on Saturday, set the course and
provided water safety throughout the event. Thank
you to the water safety volunteers at the start and
finish and to Amy O’Brien and Annabelle Paterson
who did water safety on rescue boards for the
duration of the swim events.
I would also like to thank everyone involved from
registration, BBQ, water safety, and first aid. Thank
you to everyone who helped with set up and
pack down, pick up supplies and clean the BBQs
afterwards.
Thanks to Nick Nezval for commentating. Thanks
to Tim Read and Andrew Kagis for taking
photographs. Special thanks also to James Allison,
Alexis Bell, Lauren Tischendorf, Felicity MacArthur,
Jo Delmodes, Brendan O’Mahony and Steve
Hackers who really helped get things organised
and managed logistics on the day. Thanks to the
Coogee Surf Club who lent us their swim buoys.
The Bondi Blue Water Challenge is a big event to
run and I appreciate all the volunteers who gave
up their Sunday morning to help out.
Dori Miller
Ocean Events Organiser
94
BONDI SURF BATHERS’ LIFE SAVING CLUB