- GASA says conditions worsened during event

- GASA says all swimmers taking over 50 minutes were told to board safety launches

- Open water swims always risky

A representative of GASA has released a statement on behalf of the association following recent media reports of swimmers facing dangerous conditions during yesterday’s Endurance Swim.

“Yesterday, the endurance swim started in conditions which were less than ideal but as far as we were concerned, swimmable. In fact we have swam the event in conditions just as bad as this on other occasions. To be clear, the yellow flag was flying at both beaches when we gave starting orders.

“Suffice to say, that the conditions worsened during the event. Lifeguards decided to close the beach when swimmers were still arriving at Caleta. Stronger swimmers completed the race in under half an hour, others, as always took longer, some and this sometimes happens, were removed from the water by the police and lifeguard launch (we always arrange to have these measures in place and this time they were called upon for assistance, it is what they are there for after all), a few swimmers refused to come aboard the police launch and continued swimming. FYI, ALL swimmers are told that if they do not complete the swim by 50 minutes, they will be asked to board the safety launches and be escorted back to shore. This is made clear in the pre-swim brief after registration at Eastern Beach.

“As far as the "dangerous" weather conditions are concerned, there is always an elevated element of risk with open water swims, however there were lifeguards both at sea and on land as well as the police launch to assist. Having said this, we cannot refuse or turn away swimmers on the basis of an assumption that they may struggle with the event! We warn and inform, swimmers decide to either take part or not.”

{fcomment}