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Swim Kim

2025 Autumn Ocean Swim

Week 10: I think that's what they call a ‘hat trick’, or is it a ‘trifecta’?

After 10 weeks of training, our goal swim had finally arrived! South Maroubra beach was looking placid in the run up to the event but come race day we were blessed with the worst conditions of the whole season. 

It was forecast to rain and powerful one-to-three foot waves were crashing on the shore. ‘Feral!’ is how fellow CanTooer Deb described it. Coach Paul and Judy’s advised some of our 1km group to switch to the 500-metre course. 

With everyone buddy-ed up, we set off into the wild ocean. What can I say? It’s exactly how you imagine being in the spin cycle of a washing machine.

Visibility was awful, it was choppy and to top it all off one of the rescue boats ran over the top of me! But, with my buddy Julz by my side - we made it and completed the swim. Unfortunately on our way back to shore, Julz’s goggles were lost to the ocean. 

Conditions continued to decline and things were looking hairy so after a lot of to’ing and fro’ing, the 1km and 2.5km races were called off.

I can now say I’ve completed the Balmoral Swim, Coogee Island Challenge and South Maroubra Ocean Swim which I didn’t expect at the start of this program. I’m allergic to sport but pretty sure that’s considered a hat trick? Or is it a trifecta…?

Week 9: The penultimate week


This week’s training schedule was curtailed because of the Easter long weekend. We had our usual pool session but no beach training which was a blessing in disguise as there were massive (and dangerous) swells!

A couple of CanTooers headed to South Maroubra Beach for a dry (wet?) run before our goal event at South Maroubra Ocean Swim. I decided to stay local and do some laps in the pool with a little steam, spa and sauna session thrown in. The first 500 metres felt good but the last 500 metres were a little slow and a bit of a struggle!

Week 8: Putting the challenge into Coogee Island Challenge


We completed our second benchmark swim in the pool this week and I can report that…my pace hasn’t changed. I’ve long suspected that I have just one pace and stick with it and now it’s been confirmed! Maybe this is something I can work on in the future.

We had our Saturday morning training session and it was another great start to the weekend. One of our water safety friends even pointed out two blue gropers which was fun to see! 

The next day a merry crew of CanTooers congregated at the Coogee Island Challenge as a practice swim before our goal event. It was great to see so much of the CanToo combo of orange and blue out there and there’s a real sense of excitement and camaraderie with such a big group.

Steph graciously volunteered to swim with me again and I was quite apprehensive after seeing the course which appeared longer than Balmoral Beach Swim. There were four buoys to navigate in a rectangle shape and then you had to swim diagonally past a floating cone and the final chequered buoy. The buoys appeared really far apart and it just felt like you were swimming forever to get to a checkpoint. Steph and I set off and 45 minutes (!) later emerged on dry land.

I was a bit worried about coming back in on a wave but the training sessions at Bondi Beach are paying off. Two big waves in and I could stand up and walk across the line with some semblance of coordination.

Steph joked she was my ‘security buddy’ as during the swim she managed to spot and intervene just as another swimmer was going to crash smack bang into me. I’m very grateful for her presence and in awe of her athleticism as she d to hop straight back into the water for the 2.4 km island swim!

A highlight was seeing a really small stingray as I was heading into the water at Coogee. A lowlight was discovering sea lice marks on the back of my left leg. I’m really an ocean swimmer now, I even have the rash to prove it!

Week 7: You never regret a swim


We were blessed with a magic weekend for back-to-back beach sessions. The sun was shining and the water was delightfully warm and clear at Bondi Beach for our beach training session. This was a surprise to all as there were ‘massive swells’, ‘king tides’ and ‘storm surges’ during the week. This is basically industry lingo for really, really, ridiculously strong waves - so huge they managed to burst  through the glass doors of Icebergs surf club and flood the building (!).

On Saturday, we practised getting in and out of the waves and then swimming back and forth to the buoy and returning to shore. I discovered getting out of the water is as hard as getting into the waves. It is quite difficult to emerge with dignity, grace and strut James Bonds-like across the sand. I did a bit of somersault as I tried to catch a wave in. It was akin to being in a washing machine. When I told my sister, she commented, ‘Well, you have been wanting to work on your tumble turns.’ :| That’s not what I had in mind!

On Sunday, I headed to Balmoral Beach with fellow CanTooer Steph. She had been ‘gently encouraging’ me to complete the Balmoral Swim and offered to buddy with me in the 1km category. After careful consideration, I decided to commit and managed to complete it! 

A huge shout-out to Steph for motivating me and swimming alongside me. I felt very accomplished even though those in older age categories were overtaking me and my pace was quite slow. I consider it a win and can say - first ocean swim is done!

Week 6: Marge! The rains are here!


Mother nature again thwarted our weekend beach session with 25-75mm of rain forecast on Saturday. This had a negative effect on the water quality and the beach session was called off for our safety. 

I set off to Cook + Phillip Park Pool and the 50-metre length of the pool made it easier to calculate the number of laps required to hit the 1km mark.

The beauty of waking up at 6am on Saturday meant I mostly had the lane to myself before the pool was inundated with other swimmers, swim squad members and children’s learn to swim lessons.

Week 5: Not all pools were created equally


We’re officially halfway through our training regime, I mean, journey. As we’re now in autumn, the air is getting cooler and the nights are getting darker earlier in the evening. Coach Paul is overseas so we had Coach Karen who we discovered is a hard taskmaster!

She usually coaches weekend beach sessions and explained the last couple of times she’d filled in for a pool session - she’s managed to bring the rain with her. One session was particularly hairy and chaotic with the downpour forcing the pool to close early and swimmers being plucked from the lanes for their own safety.

Coach Karen put the fear in me with tales from previous ocean swims where the distance had completely blown out and reports of people getting hypothermia! With those pleasant thoughts circling around our minds, Coach Karen had us swimming non-stop and racking up those laps. We managed to break her rain curse because there wasn’t a drop in sight. Just a crisp and clear Sydney night.

One of the great things about the CanToo program is meeting new people. CanToo-er Helen took the initiative to organise a group trip to the Ocean Film Festival which celebrates the world’s best ocean short films. 

Some of the highlights included: 
* Spotlighting the less popular sport of bodyboarding. 
* A surf photographer who lost his leg to a shark bite but has rallied with other shark survivors for shark conservation. 
* A terrifying short on microplastics and the ocean. 
* An uplifting film about the burgeoning surf scene in Liberia and how it helps rehabilitate child soldiers and bring tourism and economy into an area that's been decimated by civil war. If they can’t borrow a board, the kids literally surf on a plank of wood.

I was off to Melbourne for a mini-break so no weekend beach session for me. Instead, I discovered the hotel rooftop pool was a ‘glorified bathtub’ as described by CanToo-er Megan. I could complete about four strokes before having to turn around. Swimming in circles is no fun.

I headed to the Melbourne City Baths which opened in 1860 to discourage people from bathing in the Yarra River which had become quite polluted and the cause of an epidemic of typhoid fever. (Thanks, Wikipedia!)

The building is beautiful and one of the most significant examples of Edwardian civic architecture in Melbourne (Wikipedia again). They built two different pools (and entrances as you can see in the photo above) to maintain the strict separation of men and women. 

The larger 30 metre pool was originally designed for men - insert eye roll emoji - but now any gender can swim in it. The unconventional pool length and my questionable maths skills weren’t a good combination but 34 laps later and I had completed 1km. Happy days.

Week 4: 'Magician? No, I’m a musician!'


We're almost mid-way through our training program so it was time for a benchmark swim. That’s timing our 500 metre non-stop swim. My time was 17.16 and honestly, I was just happy to complete the 500 metre swim.

We attempted tumble turns - a skill I’ve never quite mastered. Our team captain Julz compared my tumble turns to a Raygun dance move between fits of laughter. Hmm, going to have to work on tumble turns in my spare time I think.

As a reward for completing our benchmark swims, we headed to the pub afterwards and it was a great chance to meet my fellow swimmers outside of the pool. It turns out my fellow Cantoo-er Laura is a musician and not a magician as I thought I had heard. Might need to check that I'm not suffering from swimmer’s ear.

We were back at Bondi Beach and I was feeling apprehensive as my previous session wasn’t great. We managed to swim to the buoy and back. I was lucky to have one of our water safety angels beside me as I’m sure I would’ve become lost had I been left to my own devices. I’m geographically challenged on dry land, let alone when I'm bobbling around in the ocean.

Week 3: Cyclone Alfred's tentacles reach Bondi Beach


Our ocean swim at Bondi Beach was cancelled because of the flow-on conditions from Cyclone Alfred. Not to worry, Steph, Alex and I headed for a session at Ashfield Aquatic Centre. 

This is my local pool and my gripe is that it’s been designed in such a way that the smell of frying hot chips wafts across the outdoor pool as you’re doing laps. Not sure if that’s a help or hindrance. In any case, the kiosk wasn’t open so we were spared.

I discovered Steph is a fellow fan of sour beers and Alex loves a big breakfast!

Week 2: Ocean swimming is no joke


This week the beach was littered with blue bottles and we were warned about sea lice. I kind of miss the pool where the worst thing you might see is a used bandaid floating past your line of sight. IYKYK.

It was a difficult session for me. For some reason, I was breathing every six strokes - not every two strokes as Coach Paul has been drilling into us - so I kept running out of breath. As my fellow CanToo-er Will said, ‘I’m just surviving, not thriving!’. Hard agree.

As part of the CanToo program, we have water safety volunteers chaperone us in the water and this is very reassuring. They are water angels with yellow floating devices which look similar to those foam-like banana lollies. They keep an eye on us and always have an encouraging word or two.

Week 1: Rethinking my life choices


A requirement for the CanToo program is to swim 200 metres freestyle comfortably, I thought this is pretty achievable for me. Well, I was in for a bit of a surprise when our warmup drill was swimming 300 metres freestyle non-stop! 

Coach Paul used this to assess our technique and gauge our position in the group. I left the session feeling demoralised as I felt quite slow and unfit despite keeping up my swimming over the summer. I thought ‘It's going to be a long 10 weeks…’.

CanToo's weekly training program involves one swim session in the pool and a second session at Bondi Beach. Our first week in the ocean was daunting at first but I was pleasantly surprised when Coach Paul called time and I realised our one hour training session was up!

Our goal swim is the 1km or 2.5km South Maroubra Ocean Swim on Sunday 27 April. I'll be participating in the 1km swim!

I'm supporting cancer research and prevention with Can Too Foundation.

1 in 3 women and 1 in 2 men will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime. This means that potentially someone we love may have to battle cancer, and that's a statistic that needs to change. 


So I asked myself, "what can I do to help?" That's where the Can Too Foundation came in! Can Too provides professionally coached training programs for participants of any fitness level to run, swim and cycle their way to a healthier lifestyle and a cancer-free world. 


In return, I am raising valuable funds that go towards innovation in the prevention, care, and control of cancer. Since 2005, Can Too Foundation has trained over 22,000 participants and raised over $30,000,000 to invest in over 150 cancer research grants.


It would be fantastic if you could sponsor me, or even better join me in a program!


Thank you for your support!

Please Help Me
Reach My Goal

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$1,070

My Goal

$995

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Thank you to my Sponsors

$100

Katherine Pham

Very proud of your strong commitment to the training and dedication to completing the ocean swim :)

$100

Quoc Pham

Try your best.Good luck.

$50

Ai Than

Best wishes

$50

Kim Pham

$50

Jp

Go Kim! A great challenge and excellent cause

$50

Olivia N

Well done, KP! You are one with the ocean now 🌊

$50

Lydia

Swim Kim! Comme un poisson!

$50

Jacqui Charlesworth

$50

Kim Shaw

One more day!

$50

Kace Rich

Go Kim! Swim like Klim! With vigour and vim! Just don’t lose a limb, dear Kim!

$50

Kyril

Live up to the name Swim Kim!

$50

Cindy Nguyen

$40

Sam Perkins

$35

Liza Premoyak

So proud of you. It’s going to go swimmingly!

$30

Anonymous

Hoot hoot! 🦉

$30

Kim Shaw

You write beautifully, Kim. Maybe you should go professional : ) Not sure about the swimming. Seems salty

$25

Betty Chen

So proud of you Kim 🌊❤️

$20

Patrick

Your name will be Swimmy Kimmy good luck x

$20

Nikko

May the words of Dory (Finding Nemo) keep you going .. Just keep swimming .. just keep swimming ..

$20

Katrina Sichlau

Go Kim! Here's some sage advice from the classic film Finding Nemo: "Just keep swimming". You got this! 🐟🐠

$20

Celia Zhao

Good luck!

$20

Anonymous

Go go Kim! Well done so far! Very inspiring!

$20

Diana

Just keep on swimming Kim!

$20

Julia Gauci

How far you’ve come from froggy. Congratulations and good luck.

$20

Sharon Lee

Well done and all the best Kim!!

$20

Cm

$20

Ee Ling Quah

All the best and have fun!

$10

Anonymous

Well done Kim! Go for it 🙌🏊‍♀️🔥