Williamstown’s Ashleigh Gould will aim for national glory when her local life-saving club hosts Victoria’s top open-water swimming event on Saturday.
Breaking with 25 years’ tradition, Williamstown Swimming and Life Saving Club decided that instead of holding its annual Australia Day swim, it would host the Victorian open-water championships and the Williamstown open-water challenge (WOW).
Ms Gould, 18, trained for about 20 hours a week while preparing for VCE exams.
She needs to swim five kilometres in under 70 minutes to qualify for February’s national open-water swimming titles in Mooloolaba.
“I had a bad shoulder injury all last year so I was out for almost six months,” Ms Gould said.
“I was in year 12 this year so I had to slack off training, but I’d normally train eight times a week, 16 hours or more in the water, plus about three hours of weights and strength training.”
Club president Matt McCarroll said 560 swimmers had registered as of last week – more than double last year’s number.
“It was a big decision to move away from our traditional Australia Day swim so we’re delighted with what looks sure to be record-breaking numbers,” he said.
Registration for the championship events has closed, but swimmers can register for WOW challenge events online until 4pm on December 18 and in person from 6am on event day.
