Open-water warrior and triathlete Charles Erasmus died just metres from the Big Bay Swim finish line on Sunday.
Mr Erasmus, 51, went into cardiac arrest as he approached the Williamstown finish of the 3.2-kilometre race.
He died doing what he loved with the woman he loved waiting on the shoreline.
“On the start line he said to me, ‘I’ll give it everything’. And he gave it everything,” his wife, Thea Erasmus, said.
“He was the kindest, most humble, most gentle soul you could ever wish to meet. He was strong and tall, and I’m little compared to him. He was so loved.”
The couple were married almost a year ago, bringing together their children from each of their previous marriages.
South African-born Mr Erasmus was a father of three adult children and became the step-father to his new wife’s two children, aged seven and nine.
For Valentine’s Day in 2013, the pair did an interview with Fairfax Media for a feature story on couples who fell in love over their lifelong passion.
“Swimming is a huge part of who I am,” Mr Erasmus said.
“And that’s not always a healthy thing, as it rules my life.”
His words from two years ago leave a bitter taste now.
“He used to do ironmans in South Africa,” Mrs Erasmus said. “He’s a distance athlete, he’s fit and strong and there’s nothing wrong with him as far as we knew. He had a really, really low resting heart rate.”
She thinks it could have been a massive heart attack, a stroke or an aneurysm that took her husband.
Big Bay Swim organiser Ronald Coleman said Williamstown’s Rotary Club of Point Gellibrand, which founded the swim, was in shock.
“It’s the first time in 27 years for a swimmer to come to grief like that.
“We were shocked and saddened … we want to offer any support to the swimmer’s family because they are the ones who are suffering now.”
– with Goya Dmytryshchak
