In 2021, Geoff Llewellyn, then 88, completed the last of the 62 Endurance 1000 program swims on Thursday the 10th June. At the time this was Australian record time for completing this series of swims.
This year, Geoff now 89, has finished all 62 swims by 10am on the 5th May.
As the Endurance programs requires a swim over each of 10 different events to be done once each month for five months (50 swims) it is impossible to complete all swims before May. That means that Geoff has done the 10 events in less than five days. That is he has swum a 400m and 800m freestyle, a 400m and 800m backstroke, a 400m and 800m breaststroke, a 400m and 800 butterfly and a 400 and 800m individual medley in the first five days of May.
On top of completing these 10 swims every month for the past five months Geoff has also swum one each of 1500m, 30 minutes, 45 minutes and 60 minutes in the mandatory freestyle, breaststroke and backstroke styles in this same time period.
The only way anyone can ever do better is to have finished all 62 swims by Star Wars day the 4th of May. “May the force be with you” Geoff for the rest of 2022 and for the coming years.
A very modest swimmer, Geoff says the only reason he can complete the 400m and 800m butterfly swims is because he has a medical disability certificate that exempts him from having to clear the water with his arms every stroke. It is very striking to note that there less than a handful of women and men over 70 who can still swim the Endurance 1000 butterfly events. The only other male over 80 who still manages it is our world champion Victorian John Cocks.
Geoff is the convenor for the little band of distance swimmers he meets with twice a week at the AIS (Thursdays) and CISAC (Tuesdays) pools in Canberra. They meet at 10am and if ever you are visiting you are more than welcome to attend.