WARRIOR SWIM WEEK

There’s nothing like a challenge to bring a disparate group of strangers together. Samoa Swim Week is a series of endurance challenges, one after the other. Throw in some beautiful, friendly locals and their tropical beaches, reefs and rivers and talofah (Samoan for hello), suddenly a week or two of serious endurance events is enjoyable. But I’m not the fittest old man in the sea and the idea of three big open water swims in a few days was daunting. So daunting that I actually went to my local pool and did some actual training in the weeks before the trip. Adding to my motivation to train was the chance to ‘represent’ my country (at last) and the extremely boast-worthy event titles on offer, like ‘Samoa Warrior Race.’ By the end of our Samoan adventure, I’d completed five big ocean swims in five days, plus a 6km run, and a 6km hike up and down a mountain. We’d also seen a good chunk of the main Samoan island, Upolo, visited cultural and historic sites and eaten very well indeed (important to me). I loved the fire dancers, the bus trips, the stops at small rural villages and shops, the snorkelling on Sinalei Reef, the buffet at the Samoa Sheraton and our tour of Robert Louis Stevenson’s grand Victorian home. The opening ceremony and the athlete’s march through the capital, Apia, were major highlights, as was the prize giving ceremony and party on the last night. Taking us to all these beautiful places was our open, wooden-framed bus called “Heaven” which featured artwork declaring ‘Heaven is real’ and ‘Hell is real.’ The people in Hell were swimming in a sea of fire. Heaven, and it’s sister bus “Kingdom” became places of fun and laughter for everyone participating in Samoa Swim Week. Unfortunately, I missed out on becoming the 2016 Pacific Open Water Challenge Champion (see what I mean?). The POWC is a 10km and a 5km swim on consecutive days. The 5km event saw us swim across a bay and up a river to a waterfall and back, cheered on by local school kids. I also missed out on being named a Samoa Grand Warrior (sad face). That grand title is reserved for triathletes who complete the halfironman event and then the competition Swim Week back on back. Heaven is real. But I did conquer the centrepiece of Warrior Week, the Samoa Swim Series. Three big 4km open water races in three days. I jumped fearlessly into the long course option (the short course option is three 2km races) purely because traveller’s logic told me to get maximum value for my time, effort and money. That logic seemed to be unravelling when I was sitting, nervously, in the long, thin traditional ferry that took us the start line for the first race – The Manono Channel Swim. “See that island over there?” said event director, Seti Afoa, in the pre-race briefing. “Yes I can see it,” I thought to myself as I squinted forward to make out the shape of a distant landmass, “It’s across the other side of the Pacific and I didn’t bring my passport.” “That’s the finish!” said Seti. Hell is real. At that point, Andy from Queensland dropped his goggles overboard and the rest of the eightyodd participants shifted uncomfortably in their Speedos. “I’ve done this swim on my own with no safety team,” continued Seti cheerfully, as my bravado abandoned ship.“And when I got to Manono Island, I dived back in and swam straight back!” The trip back to Apia in Heaven after that first Manono Channel swim was loud, raucous and happy. The apprehensive silence travelling to the swim in the morning had been replaced by a party atmosphere. Suddenly we had a significant shared experience to laugh about. We were all friends. The rest of the week seemed to be one long laugh. The second swim was inside the reef at Aleipata Bay. It was fast, competitive and the fresh coconuts for rehydration worked better than any plastic bottled ‘ade’ drink. Back in Heaven, the party was in full swing, without a drop of alcohol. Andy, Doug (a tighthead prop from New Zealand) and I opted for a ride back in the back tray of Seti’s ute. That gave us the opportunity to develop our friendly waving skills as we passed through villages. Talofah! Pretty much everyone has their own signature gesture. “I think we’re starting to hold our own in the talofah exchanges,” said Andy as he holstered his new double fingered pointing move. The last swim at beautiful Sinalei Reef was more serious. We had all checked out the points table from the first two swims and we knew where we stood. We might have been distracted by sea turtles, tropical fish and coral in the first two races but now it was ON! When we finished, a team of Samoan swimmers danced on the beach and we formed teams for a final relay race. I was the last swimmer for Team Victoria and swam hard to avoid the wooden spoon, only to receive an excellent face palm on the run up the beach by a Kiwi woman from Team Omaha. Do they teach that in New Zealand schools? Because that move was pure Tana Umaga. In the final wash-up, I jagged third place (for Australia) in the Samoa Swim Series. It turned out that Andy dropping his goggles way back at Manono Island was the turning point. Heaven is real. Talofah!