Interesting and curious figures from the Cole @ Manly: numbers at this year's Cole Classic were way down on last year: 3,818 over three events, from 4,232 over two events in 2011. Numbers confirm the vacuity of Fairfax Meeja's claim that the Cole is "Australia's largest ocean swim". Lorne's Pier to Pub always -- since Fairfax has been making the claim -- has been the largest, and over one event, not multiple events. One would think a meeja group as sanctimonious and as moralising as Fairfax would be concerned about accuracy.
Whilst we were at Manly, where the Cole organisers shifted the starts and finishes of both swims around the Shelly Beach, this was what Tamarama looked like, on Sydney's south side (thanks to Ralph McLeay for the pic)...
Lots of controversy over the Cole in Sydney, as usual, and particularly, but which swims did you do and what did you think of them?
Did the Cole. Conditions were good and weather was perfect. Generally well organised, but start times were a shocker. Our youngest kicked off 8.30am through to eldest starting 12.40pm! Brett
ReplyDeleteI am a newer and older lady ocean swimmer and enjoyed the challenge of the Cole swim today. The bright green shirts on the life guards were fab as you could not spot the cans especially when you turned into the sun. I plotted an seaward line back to the beach and did far better then those that drifted into the center of the course. Such that the outer surf break bubbled over my back, heaven!!!
ReplyDeleteGood course....however start time were hopeless. No need for such large gaps in between waves. Conditions were much different for the older waves than the first up waves. Also finish line pretty much packed up and no refreshments left for those in the latter waves. Youngest started at 1030 and oldest at 1pm. This needs to change....
ReplyDeleteI can understand why people got a bit upset about the wave times but in all honesty - had they advertised this a few weeks before the event - I think it is a good idea, particularly for the people doing these swims for the first time, as it can be quite intimidating when the whole wave behind yours happens to come and swim over you!
ReplyDeleteI thought that once again the event was well organised and ran smoothly, despite the (arguably) "challenging" conditions that resulted in moving the finish area to Shelley Beach. I guess with an event of this size you need to cater for the lowest common denominator so the break at South Steyne would've put some people off even getting in the water.
As much as I understand the tirade against Fairfax that goes on on this website/blog (and I partially agree with oceanswim's point of view), I think net/net they are bringing a lot of awareness and new people to the sport, getting some people off the couch and raising a lot of money for charities which is always a good thing (+$500K raised yesterday for different charities).
So the way I see it, Fairfax is trying to position the Cole Classic as the "City to Surf" of ocean swims. I personally think it is a pretty smart move and it can only be good for the sport, bringing more money and sponsors in (which we all know is already happening).
Well said ! and agree.
DeleteAs I understand it Fairfax allows a conduit for fundraising it doesn't actually donate money itself.
DeleteI think you guys should ease up on trying to be so critical of the Cole Classic & it's organisation. It was a great day out and whilst I wasn't all that happy to be starting my swim at 12.40 it was great that the waves were spread so far apart and meant that not so many people got swum over by the fasties in the later waves.My husband did the 1km as his second Ocean swim and I think it made it better for him not to have to worry about seimmers coming from behind him.
ReplyDeleteSaturday 4th saw the 2012 Port to Park swim in Sth Melbourne which was run in near perfect weather, light Northerly winds, 30 C and clear sky's and 193 entrants. With water temp at 22 I went for the nude swim, sure I lost a few places overall but realy enjoyed the swim. At $30 one of the cheapest swims around and a great club atmosphere
ReplyDeleteHi all - having read the various commentary and controversy on this blog re the Cole on this blog, I was interested to go down and check it out myself.
ReplyDeleteOn the swim: I enjoyed it quite a lot. It was shame that it was redirected back to Shelly, but they closed Manly beach later that day because of the swell, and given the number of first-timers doing the swim, it was a good decision. It meant that apart from the start, where it was a bit of a washing-machine because of the large wave (I was in the 30-34 blokes wave), it was pretty smooth the whole way, which suited my pool-trained technique.
The course run-down and marking were the best I've seen this year. Many swims I've done haven't had anyone describing where to swim etc, but this one was very good and we all had a clear idea of the course thanks to the announcer. The markings were good because if you couldn't see the cans, you could see the bright green shirts on the life guards. This helped me a lot - I struggle to swim straight in a pool....
The wave gaps made for a long day, but also gave me a little more time to get there and probably meant that backmarkers didn't get as swamped by the waves behind them - this is probably a good thing. We should keep in mind that many people doing the Cole are newbies.
In the future it would be good if they could do something about where to leave your baggage. I was lucky as I had my family with me so they looked after my stuff (and we fluked a great parking spot at Shelly), but leaving your baggage at Manly and walking around to Shelly in your speedoes, then back afterwards, isn't ideal. Lucky it was a nice day.
The downside to the day is the cost, and many people have blogged and commented here about that. It does cost a fair bit, but you do get some good stuff for it - having a txt message with my time waiting for me when I got back to my phone was good, and the results are up by the afternoon. There will be individual photos of your finish online soon too. Whilst I'm sure the race gets a lot of people into ocean swimming (2010 was my first), they could do more for advertising other races - or at least providing links to other swims. This seems to be the major cause of consternation out there - they make out that they are the biggest and only ocean swim out there, which of course they are not. I wouldn't mind the cost so much if they did this (it is their swim, they can charge what they like and if it gets too costly for what you get, people won't go). For a costly swim you expect it all to work swimmingly - many of the issues people have would be forgiven at the smaller cheaper events.
Anyway, I had a good day out.
Hi all - having read the various commentary and controversy on this blog re the Cole on this blog, I was interested to go down and check it out myself.
ReplyDeleteOn the swim: I enjoyed it quite a lot. It was shame that it was redirected back to Shelly, but they closed Manly beach later that day because of the swell, and given the number of first-timers doing the swim, it was a good decision. It meant that apart from the start, where it was a bit of a washing-machine because of the large wave (I was in the 30-34 blokes wave), it was pretty smooth the whole way, which suited my pool-trained technique.
The course run-down and marking were the best I've seen this year. Many swims I've done haven't had anyone describing where to swim etc, but this one was very good and we all had a clear idea of the course thanks to the announcer. The markings were good because if you couldn't see the cans, you could see the bright green shirts on the life guards. This helped me a lot - I struggle to swim straight in a pool....
The wave gaps made for a long day, but also gave me a little more time to get there and probably meant that backmarkers didn't get as swamped by the waves behind them - this is probably a good thing. We should keep in mind that many people doing the Cole are newbies.
In the future it would be good if they could do something about where to leave your baggage. I was lucky as I had my family with me so they looked after my stuff (and we fluked a great parking spot at Shelly), but leaving your baggage at Manly and walking around to Shelly in your speedoes, then back afterwards, isn't ideal. Lucky it was a nice day.
The downside to the day is the cost, and many people have blogged and commented here about that. It does cost a fair bit, but you do get some good stuff for it - having a txt message with my time waiting for me when I got back to my phone was good, and the results are up by the afternoon. There will be individual photos of your finish online soon too. Whilst I'm sure the race gets a lot of people into ocean swimming (2010 was my first), they could do more for advertising other races - or at least providing links to other swims. This seems to be the major cause of consternation out there - they make out that they are the biggest and only ocean swim out there, which of course they are not. I wouldn't mind the cost so much if they did this (it is their swim, they can charge what they like and if it gets too costly for what you get, people won't go). For a costly swim you expect it all to work swimmingly - many of the issues people have would be forgiven at the smaller cheaper events.
Anyway, I had a good day out.
I did the Cole, a great course (a local beach for me so I'm biased). The organiser's deserve some criticism: Did they really hold the presentations at 1.00pm, the same time as us Boof Heads started swimming and did we really need to wait until 1.00pm to start. No water for drinking at the finish only the sponsor's sports drink. The difficulty the organisers of this event now face is that so many other ocean swims shine as examples of well organised community events and they host the same swimmers, so we compare swims.
ReplyDeleteWhat does the Cole Classic do well? - Publicity, people I know who don't swim were talking about Ocean Swimming this morning.
Will I be back? - Yes. Do I hope they focus more swimmers needs rather than media needs? - Yes. Do I think this will happen? - Unlikely.
The Cole was just a day of hassles. Having to travel from Newcastle and get the cap and timing chip beforehand just adds to the expense of swimming in Australia's most expensive swim. If the organisers of the Big Swim from Palm Bch to Whale Bch can do it, I'm pretty sure Fairfax can.
ReplyDeleteParking in Manly was ridiculous. I haven't had as much drama getting a park for surf carnivals at Manly, Nth Steyne or Queenscliff in 30 years of SLSA competition.
The course was great, rips, currents, swell and this course was the best marked and laid out of the season. But over 4 hours to get all the waves away. I mean, lets get serious here!
The whole day felt like I was at a Fairfax love in. Too corporate. At no time did I get a feeling of community goodwill. I hope Manly SLSC make plenty of money but I think if it was my surf club, I'd be pissed at being sidelined so much.
Will I do the swim again? No! Give me the smaller swims which all have sense of meaning, locality and fun.
I'd be interested in swimming the Pier to Pub in Victoria next year for a comparison.
I'm just disappointed that the swim itself was unable to overcome the negatives from the organisers, and the incredible slowness in getting the waves away.
The Grey Nurse
Anyone else feel the 2km was long.....tried to map it on google maps and seems long there also.
ReplyDeleteYes it was either longer than 2km or we had some really strong currents (or likely a combination of both). Times were slower across the board.
DeleteMy first ocean swim was the cole last year. I've done a few other swims since then so I've learned that it's not always such a circus or so expensive.
ReplyDeleteIn my waves in both the 1 and 2k this year there were a lot of newbies. Knowing that, it makes sense that the organisers do some things a bit more conservatively (eg 10min gaps between waves, not swimming into Manly).
There are still some things I think could be better. Having to pick up your race pack the day before is incredibly inconvenient for people who don't live in Manly. Giving out medals to all finishers is kind of weird for adults! If I'm going to get something for finishing, it could be useful - like t-shirt or a water bottle. There could be more and better promotion of the sport in general and that there are other ocean swims out there (even those not sponsored by Fairfax). It's very expensive and I can't see what is different from other ocean swims to warrant the increased cost. They seemed to be surprised that people would swim both events so you can't enter a combo, or even use the same name for both. It is weird how they keep syaing it's the biggest swim. Eventually the market will sort out the entry price issue
In the end though, it was a great day. The water safety volunteers were excellent and the fishes were pretty. And Angela van Boxtel's race report is fantastic!