Wollongong 24 Hour Mega Swim

The Wollongong 24 Hour Mega Swim raises money for MS Australia’s Go For Gold scholarship program. This year we aim to fundraise $40,000 through team sponsorships and donations

Where: University of Wollongong Recreation & Aquatic Centre – Building 13, Northfields Ave, Wollongong NSW 2522

When: 12pm Saturday 3rd – 12pm Sunday 4th March 2012

Find out more at http://www.megaswim.com/enter-wollongong.asp

Edwin Kwan

What: Aquathon

When: Thursday 26th January 2012

Where: Wollongong Harbour

http://www.aquathon.com.au/

Australia Day morning means one thing at Wollongong and that’s ‘splash n dash’ time…

Do it on your own, or tag team, and take on the Australia day healthy fun challenge.

Attracting near 2000 participants across the three safe and fun distances, the Australia Day Aquathon has become a ‘Australia Day tradition’ for the hundreds of individuals to families that take part each year.

It’s a simple as a ‘splash’ – swim, a ‘dash’ run, and loads of fun.

Events

• Kidz Aquafun – 200m swim + 2km run
• Short Aqua – 400m swim + 3km rum
• Long Aqua – 900m swim + 7km run

Edwin Kwan

November 13th 2011

5km run walk from Stuart Park

Mark Scott , a well-known local athlete, was involved in a very serious accident whilst training on Saturday the 18th of June. We are hoping that the motivation and determination that makes him a great athlete and coach will shine through and help him to recover. On November 13th 2011 there will be a special event at Stuart Park, North Wollongong to help support & raise funds to aid with marks care.

http://www.scottendurance.com.au/moveformark/

Edwin Kwan

September 24th – 25th is Relay for Life in the Illawarra [details of the event can be found here]. Over 130 teams and 1000 participants will be taking part in the relay. For some, the reasons for doing so are more personal than others. Below is Shannae’s story.

Why I relay…

Cancer has touched my family in too many, my grandmother has just recently been diagnosed with lung cancer, not one caused by smoking, but one that every person aged from about 50yrs is quite common to get. Her treatment has not started yet, but it has already put a massive toll on my family as I am the only closest relative my grandparents have. Also in 2005 my father-in-law was diagnosed with throat cancer. After losing most of his teeth, his salivary glands, over 30kgs due to not being able to eat and an intense 6 month course of radio and chemotherapy. It has now been 5 years and they still cant tell him that he is cancer free. He has only put about 15kgs back on and still can’t eat properly. He has to carry around a pocket spray bottle to spray his mouth every minute as he will never get his salivary glands back and he finds it really hard to swallow food due to no lubrication. Every day is a battle for my mother-in-law to try and create new dishes that he can eat with no dramas. But the good news is that after 5 years he is still here.

Both husbands of my neighbours on either side of us have passed away from cancer in the past 13 months. Dave passed away due to a number of reasons, one of them was lymphatic cancer. He had been struggling with this for about 5 years which was continuously making him weaker and was causing more health issues. They became part of our family when he decided to take my son under his wing as an adopted-like great grandson. He loved transformers and would ask Jacob to play with his toys. Kevin was diagnosed with a very rare type of stomach cancer and within 3 months of his diagnosis he was gone. Having my 9yr old son see the horrible life surrounding cancer, I want to do everything in my power to help the Cancer Council research and find some cures.

Help me make a difference…

Cancer Council’s Relay for Life is coming to our community and I’m taking part. That’s right – I’m taking to the track and being proactive in the fight against cancer. Did you know that Cancer Council is Australia’s leading cancer charity dedicated to beating cancer through research? Cancer Council’s groundbreaking work into the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cancer has saved thousands of lives. But statistics show that one in two of us will still get cancer at some point and Cancer Council’s vital work, funded entirely by the public, will help ensure that thousands more people will survive. So please help make a difference.

Find out more about Relay for Life in the Illawarra.

Shannae Correia

Shannae Correia walked just over 38kms and raised over $1,000 from last year’s relay for life. This year she has set herself a personal target of $2,000. She’ll be walking for the Berkeley West Public School. If you wish to help her achieve her target, you can donate online by going to her teams page. Every donation counts.

Team from VO2 Vitality

The BaiMed Physiotherapy’s 100 100s for charity is a fantastic opportunity for illawarra businesses to raise money for local charities including Greenacres and House with No Steps. This is a perfect opportunity for workplaces to promote and encourage healthy living and workplace camaraderie. This year’s event will be bigger then ever with a fundraising target of $30,000.

The concept is simple.
Individually or via a team relay participants complete 100 metres on 100 occasions in 100 minutes.
The faster you run or walk = the more time you have for recovery.

When – Saturday 12th November 2011. Commencing at 9am.

Where – Beaton Park

So save the date and start spreading the word in your organisation. Sponsorship packages are available from $600.00 including your corporate logo on the running singlet and a complimentary team entry.

Corporate team entry is $300.00 for a team of 5 members.

This is your chance to give and get involved!

For more information and to reserve your place at the start line please contact BaiMed Physiotherapy on 100100s@baimedphysio.com.au or 02 4227 1990. Early entry is crucial as we will be limiting corporate team numbers to 60 local businesses. All team entries will be invited to promote their business on the day whilst supporting a wonderful charity.

BaiMed Physiotherapy

BaiMed Physiotherapy and Sports Injury Clinic provides exceptional patient focused care in a friendly environment whilst maintaining the highest quality of professional integrity and standards.
http://www.baimedphysio.com.au

Edwin Kwan

Free diving is a great sport and easily available to the region. It is a great form of exercise and helps improve your lung capacity, making it an excellent low impact exercise for runners. Some of the best free diving sites can be found around here. Over the weekend, free diver Michaela Werner was featured in the Mercury and talks about her free diving experience. You can read more about it by clicking on the images below to view their larger size

More pictures of Michaela Free diving can be found at Edwin Kwan Photography

Edwin Kwan

Edwin Kwan is the PADI Dive Instructor with United Divers and also has a keen interest in underwater photography. He is also the webmaster for the this website. He has a certificate III in fitness and has done numerous half marathons including a marathon and triathlon. He also has a keen interest in Photography and is a webmaster for Little Handy Tips

Edwin Kwan

Anita from VO2 Vitality before the ride

Last Saturday, VO2 Vitality and Spearman Cycles organised a mountain bike ride day up at Appin XC Ring Track.

It was a great opportunity for those who haven’t mountain biked before to give it a go; and there were people from all experience levels that day.
We met at the gates to the ring track at 8am that Saturday Morning. There Ryan, Cameron and Jessica from Spearman Cycles helped pair us with demo bikes and adjusted the bike and seats according to suit us. Once everyone was geared up, we were off!

Amy, Anita and Brendan from VO2 Vitality

Being a first time mountain biker, it took a while to get used to riding in the trails. Having only ridden on road bikes prior to that day, I was used to slowing down and trying to avoid rocks and other obstacles. With mountain biking, its completely different, there’s rocks everywhere and slowing down doesn’t help as there are times when you need the momentum in order to get past the rocks.

We were also taught how to accelerate and lift our front wheel followed by our rear wheel in order to ‘climb’ up the rocks and also how to shift our body weight to the back and level our pedals while doing down hill. Despite that, I was still able to have a massive stack and flip the bike because I had my weight body towards the front while doing down hill.

It was so much fun and we even did two river crossing along the track! Thanks to Brendan from VO2 Vitality and Ryan, Cameron and Jessican from Spearman Cycles for organising this!

Group Photo After the Ride

If you are interested in trying out mountain bike riding, check out Spearman Cycles to see when their next demo day is. And if you’re looking at increasing your mountain biking fitness, contact Brendan from VO2 Vitality about their TRX suspension training!

Edwin Kwan

Ride Around The Lake is a charity ride raising money for My Place and the MS Australia.
There are three ride options: 4km, 12km & 40km, with the 40km doing a circuit around Lake Illawarra, starting and finishing at the Illawarra Yacht Club.

When: Saturday 7 May 2011
Where: Lake Illawarra, Illawarra Yacht Club
Time: First group starting at 7:15am

Find out more at http://www.ridearoundthelake.org.au/

Edwin Kwan

Change over of swimmers from Anita Graham to Lis White

Last weekend was the inaugural MS 24hr Mega Swim at URAC. It was a hugely successful event and they exceeded their targeted fundraising goals, raising almost $40,000.
There were around 17 teams, each team can have no more than 15 members and there has to be someone from the team swimming for the entire 24hr duration.

Anita is such a great organiser, there were so many teams participating in the event and she also got quite a few sponsors for the events. There was URAC who hosted the event at their pool, the Figtree Lions Club which provided a 24hr BBQ service (I tried out their bacon and egg sandwich on Sunday morning and it was delicious).

Lis White after completing her lap

Brendan Tuck from VO2 Vitality was there to provide TRX training for everyone to try out. Elisabeth White from Lis White Yoga ran pool side yoga sessions and Grant Jacobs and Ben from Recovery Works provided 24hr massage to soothe the sore muscles for the tired swimmers. Also there were dietatians from Port Kembla hospital there to provide freshly cut fruits for everyone. There was plenty of activities going on throughout the 24hrs.

The event raised close to $40,000 and the MS Trashers team, won the event (based on an distance covered and funds raised)! It was such a great effort by everyone involved and they all looked so tried after. Just looking at them swim made me tried too. More photos of the event are up on my website and available at http://edwinkwan.com/2011-ms-24hr-mega-swim-in-wollongong/

MS Trashers (The winning team)

Edwin Kwan

The MS 24Hour Mega Swim in Wollongong is happening on 5th – 6th March 2011 at URAC

The 24 Hour Mega Swim is a fun team event comprising of no more than 15 swimmers per team. Each team must have one swimmer in the water for the entire 24 hours. It is up to the team how they swim it. Some teams have been known to have their swimmers swim in blocks of 15 minutes right up to 4 hours. There is no set formula.

The 2011 Wollongong 24 Hour Mega Swim is a fund raising event for people affected by Multiple Sclerosis. MS the most common disease of the central nervous system affecting over 20,000 Australians.

Did you know?

* The average diagnosis of MS is 30 years old.
* MS affects three times as many women as men.

The 24 Hour Mega Swim event raises funds for MS Australia’s ‘Go for Gold’ Scholarship program. ‘Go for Gold’ scholarships are awarded to people living with Multiple Sclerosis covering a broad range of categories including education, travel, sport, music, the Arts and employment.

MS Australia aims to minimise the impact of multiple sclerosis on all individuals affected by the disease, their families, carers and the community by offering a wide range of assistance, services and equipment. MS Australia’s goal is to assist everyone affected by MS to live life to their full potential and secure the care and support they need, until we ultimately find a cure.

Please support MS Australia and sponsor some of our swimmers.

Anita Graham

Lis White from Lis White Yoga

Brendan Tuck from VO2 Vitality

Edwin Kwan