Reader\'s Digest Australia & New Zealand - June 2018

10 | June• 2018

Denise Strong lives

in Cronulla, NSW,

andisthemother

of three children

and grandmother

of six. Denise

enjoys walking,

swimming, art,

African drumming

and creative

writing.

BY DENISE STRONG

Ocean

Challenge

Facingalong-heldfearhad

an unexpected outcome

FOR ME, SWIMMING IN THE OCEANwasmorethana

fear–itterriiedme.AsIhadneverhadthecourageto

ventureoutpastmydepth,whyIagreedtodotheBondi

BeachOceanClassic–anoceanswimofonekilometre

–attheageof63,isbeyondme,butIdid.

Togetherwithagroupofivelong-timegirlfriends–

wedubbedourselvesthe‘SixPack’–I’dsigneduptodo

theswim,whichinvolvedcommittingtothreemonths

oftrainingleadinguptotheeventinFebruary.Training

would be split into two sessions – Wednesday evenings

in the pool, then Saturday mornings in the ocean.

Training began on a Wednesday evening at Sans

Souci pool, in Sydney’s south. It involved diferent

swimming drills and doing lap after lap. he instructors

weretough,yellingfromthesideofthepoolaswe

swam:“Nowgetridofthoselippers,doanotherten

laps, stretch those arms, keep kicking.”

To keep up with the others, I used lippers. hey were

MY STORY