Brenda Norman, Emma Radford Are 1-2 Down The Derwent River
Courtesy of Christopher Guesdon, Derwent River, Tasmania, Australia.
On January 7th, Richard Jones completed the 34 km Derwent River Big Swim in 10 hours 8 minutes to become the eighth person to complete the Big Swim – one of The Toughest 13 marathon swims and part of the the Triple Crown of Australia organized by Chris and Sue Guesdon.
Two days later, Brenda Norman [shown above on left] completed the Derwent River Big Swim in 7 hours 4 minutes to become the fastest overall person to complete the swim.
Chris Guesdon observed, “Interestingly the fastest two times for the swim are by women. The second In line was by Emma Radford [shown above on right], with the time of 7 hours 46 minutes on January 1st 2020.”
This river is approximately 150 km long, flowing from the Central Highlands to Storm Bay on the threshold of the Great Southern Ocean. The significance of the course is that it is from New Norfolk, the largest country town on the river, and finishes at Hobart, the State capital. The swim involves four bridges and starts at a bridge, passes under two other bridges, and finishes at a bridge.
History of Big Swim Derwent River Marathon:
1. Des Renford: 10 hours 54 minutes on 25 January 1975
2. Dick Campion: 9 hours 19 minutes on 26 January 1976
3. Jenny Anderson: 9 hours 44 minutes on 26 January 1976
4. Daniel Curtis: 15 hours 57 minutes on 31 January 2015
5. Relay team Park Beach Surf Lifesaving SC (Geoff Marsh, Mike Watkins, Stephen Godfrey, Don Marsh, Gary Everingham and Don Hallett in 1-hour legs): 7 hours 43 minutes in 1974
6. Emma Radford: 7 hours 46 minutes 37.9 seconds in January 2020
7. Lynton Mortensen: 11 hours 10 minutes in March 2020
8. Ross Youngman: 9 hours 10 minutes 25 seconds on December 13th 2020
9. Richard Jones: 10 hours 8 minutes on January 7th 2021
10. Brenda Norman: 7 hours 4 minutes on January 9th 2021
The Big Swim Derwent River Marathon is part of the Triple Crown of Australia and includes the following 3 marathon swims:
* Channel: 25 km Port to Pub Ultra Marathon from Fremantle to Rottnest in Western Australia
* River: 34 km The Big Swim – Derwent River Marathon in Tasmania
* Ocean: 27 km Palm Beach to Shelley Beach Marathon Swim in New South Wales
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