A cold morning greeted competitors in this year’s iconic Rottnest Channel Swim with local marathon swimmer Max Coten the first athlete to make it to shore, reaching the island in just over four hours.
Coten (21) made the 19.7 kilometre crossing in 4:02:15, he was closely followed by Italian Alessio Occhipinti (4:08:56) and South African Byron Kimber (4:12:19).
Max Coten is the winner of the 35th annual Rottnest Channel Swim has crossed the finish line.Credit: Rottnest Channel Swim
Bianca Monaco was the first female to 4:18:57 to reach Rottnest Island.
The title for fastest solo crossing is Bailey Armstrong who completed the swim in 3:48:14 in 2023.
This year a dozen countries are represented including Germany, Italy, France, Croatia, Great Britain, Ireland, Japan, and the USA.
This year’s youngest solo swimmer is 14-year-old Cooper Chesire while the oldest swimmer overall is 80-year-old John Guilfoyle.
Last year thousands of swimmers were pulled from the water after organisers were forced to abandon the race due to dangerous weather conditions.
Max Coten greeted by family at Rottnest. Credit: Rottnest Channel Swim
Event organisers said it was the second time in its 35 year history that the swim was cancelled due to poor weather conditions, with the other instance occurring in 2007.
In 2018 the event was partially abandoned mid-swim when a competitor spotted a large great white shark swimming along the sea floor. The scare forced organisers to pull all swimmers within a one-kilometre radius of the sighting from the competition.
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