Team spirit prevails despite midway cancellation

This year's Rotto Swim witnessed a team from Heavy Lift take on the 20km swim. The appropriately named Heavy Drifters had some internal rivalry with M&IS team, the Monadelfish, who were floating a seasoned team of Rotto swimmers. 

While both teams were raring to go, the weather wasn’t on their side, with the race cancelled midway through as conditioners deteriorated and the safety of swimmers was at risk. It's only the second time in the event’s 33 year history it has been cancelled due to bad weather. 

The Heavy Drifters team of Lorna Rechichi, Tomasz Milewski, Tyler Clews and Matthew Colbourne as swimmers with Dean Brajevic at the helm of the support boat, Travis Gasper as deck hand and Jason Keating paddling the kayak. Monadelfish was led by six-time Rottnest swimmer Steven Kuhn, along with seasoned channel swimmers Al Reid and Farran Medhurst, and newcomer Chloe Place supported by Mark Holdman, Michael Zacher and Luke Scatena.  

Reflecting on the experience, Heavy Lift General Manager Lorna Rechichi said the team will be back next year. 

“Despite the bad luck on the day and the disappointment we all felt of not being able to complete the event after all that training and team preparation, we all had a lot of fun in the lead up and the day itself,” Lorna said. 

“Everyone came together as a team, supported each other and no-one contemplated giving up.  We were all in!  We have unfinished business now and will be back next year stronger than ever! 

“The importance of everyone in the team knowing their role and looking out for each other when the conditions were bad was really important.”