TeamMONASH™ proves anything is possible in Portsea

For the fifth year running TeamMONASH™ participated in the Portsea Swim Classic. Warm and sunny skies welcomed participants as they arrived in the morning in preparation for the race.

The event marked a considerable achievement in the life of Thusyanthi Jayasinge, a fourth year engineering and science student.  In 2002 she started attending the Adult Learn to Swim classes at the Doug Ellis Swimming Pool at Monash Sport.  Over the years she progressed to intermediate and advanced, and is now a recent member of the Tri-Swim Squad.

For about one third of the 120 plus TeamMONASH™ participants, this was their first open water swim as well. Jayasinge commented before her race “I’m a little bit nervous but excited, I couldn’t even swim 25m before and I’m looking forward to the finish”.

Fifteen waves of about 150 swimmers, grouped according to age and ability, were let off over a two hour period. A number of TeamMONASH™ supporters and volunteers cheered on the Monash participants as they swum.

Upon completing the swim Jayasinge commented “I did better than I expected”. When asked if she had any advice for any potential swimmers Jayasinge replied “Don’t be scared to push yourself and give it a go, the instructors at Monash pushed me to do it and I’m grateful for that”.

It was also another successful year in terms of results for TeamMONASH™, swimmer Michael Dehaini finished second in the junior male category, then swum the race again to finish third in the open male division.

Jessica Banks, who recently joined the Monash University Swim Club after the Singapore development trip for junior swimmers in the Monash area, finished second in the junior female division.

TeamMONASH™ also had three top ten finishers in the open male division.

Full list of results.

Thusyanthi Jayasinge finishes her first open water swim.

Michael Dehaini and Jessica Banks with their new trophies.