A Tale Of Two Swims
Starting at 2 am, the swim itself took 8 hours and 13 minutes. The first four hours were in the dark and in the fresh water. I struggled. After we swam under the Bridgewater Bridge, we saw the sun rise, we were in salt water. My mood changed, my stroke picked up and I felt a million dollars …
Second Leg Of The Australian Triple Crown
The Derwent River Big Swim is a 34-kilometre course from New Norfolk Bridge to the Tasman Bridge in Hobart. It is also one of the three swims that make up the Australian Triple Crown of Marathon Swimming.
I started at 2 am and completed the swim in 8 hours and 13 minutes. It was, in many ways, a tale of two very different swims.
The first four hours were in darkness and predominantly fresh water. I struggled to find my rhythm and never really felt comfortable. After passing beneath the Bridgewater Bridge, the sun began to rise and we transitioned into salt water. My mood lifted almost immediately, my stroke rate and body position improved, and I felt like a different swimmer.
I completed the course alongside my great mate, English Channel swimmer and long-time training partner Kim Miller. We swam as a solo tandem—each completing an independently observed solo swim under the same conditions while sharing the support boat and crew.
Three Generations on the Derwent
The Derwent also holds a special place in my family’s swimming history.
On 25 January 1975, my grandfather Des became the first person to complete the swim from New Norfolk to Hobart. Exactly 50 years later, on 25 January 2025, my uncle Michael “Murph” Renford completed the same course.
When I followed them across the Derwent on 8 March 2025, I became the third generation of the Renford family to complete the swim.
That connection made the day about much more than the distance or the finishing time. There are not many opportunities to follow a course first swum by your grandfather half a century earlier, knowing that your uncle had repeated it on the exact anniversary only weeks before you.
Murph was back on the boat supporting me, bringing his own experience of both the Derwent and marathon swimming more broadly. My son Oscar was also part of the crew, managing my feeds and coordinating updates from the swim. As I became the third Renford generation to complete the course, Oscar represented a fourth generation of our family out on the river that day.
The lift that comes from having family beside you during a long swim is difficult to measure. They may not be in the water, but they are unquestionably part of every stroke and, ultimately, part of the achievement.
The Australian Triple Crown
Having completed Palm to Shelly in May 2024 and the Derwent River Big Swim in March 2025, only the Port to Pub in Perth remains for me to complete the Australian Triple Crown of Marathon Swimming.
I am scheduled to take that on in March 2027.
