World champion swimmer Chloe McCardel is still covered in grey scars.
It’s nearly four months since she was repeatedly stung by scores of jellyfish while completing a 124-kilometre swim in the Bahamas.
Last week, she was medically cleared to compete in the 3.2-kilometre Jalna Big Bay Swim from Sandridge Beach to Williamstown on February 22.
Last year, McCardel was fastest female across the bay, so she is the woman to beat this year.
As she took a dip last week, McCardel’s body still bore scars from last year’s painful jellyfish encounter as well as the second-degree burns she got to 30 per cent of her body.
“It was because I was out for two full days in the Carribean,” she said. “And at night, I was getting stung by box jellyfish.
“We have strategies to keep sharks away and they’re quite effective, but nothing that I know of keeps jellyfish away.”
But there won’t be a problem with the jellyfish in the Big Bay Swim, she joked.
The open-water race across Melbourne’s shipping channel was launched by Rotary Club of Point Gellibrand 25 years ago to help rid the world of polio and support people in need.
Spectators can get in on the act with a family festival at Williamstown’s Commonwealth Reserve from 10am until 4pm on Sunday, with live entertainment from Abbey Stone.
Vacancies remain for stallholders. For more information call 0478 221 812.
