( OH WOW )
CAE TOLMAN : GETTING ‘ SW
Meet Cae ( pronounced ‘ Ky ’) Tolman , a Sydney-based Welshman who ’ s on a mission to raise funds for dementia research . Here is his story , in his words .
n marathon swimmer circles , the
I term ‘ swugly ’ refers to the point at
which one has swum oneself ugly ! When you look at people ’ s photos after swimming big channels , we all look the same : puffy eyes from goggles , smeared vaseline and zinc , weird sunburn patterns ( white top of forehead from cap , reverse panda eyes from goggles ), often with red patches and welts from chafing and jelly stings . The salt water affects your body – welcome to the world of ‘ swugly ’.
As a child and young adult I was never particularly active or sporty . I had no hand-eye coordination ; if you put a cricket bat in my hand I was more likely to hit another person than the ball , and was always last to be picked in all sporting games , so focused more on the academic side of life . On moving to Sydney from UK I rapidly developed a love of the ocean and after four years of trying to surf I realised I ’ d never be very good .
Six years ago ( at the age of 37 ) I thought I ’ d give ocean swimming a go . I discovered I had an ability to put my face down in the water and swim for a long time ; I ’ m not fast but I have endurance .
When I started swimming it began with short ocean swims , but I became friends with a bunch of guys who enjoyed ‘ adventure swims ’ such as going from beach to beach , past headlands and across harbours . After spending time with these swimmers I began to talk with people who had swum the English Channel and I eventually asked myself ‘ could I do that ?’
In order to achieve my first milestone – the 19.7km Rottnest Channel – I started training with my coach , Vlad Mravec ( www . vladswim . com . au ); this was in October 2012 . Vlad is the foremost marathon swim coach in Australia and has coached nearly 30 swimmers who have successfully swum the English Channel , North Channel and Catalina Channel . I still train with Vlad , who ’ s developed a personal training plan for me and provides regular advice and coaching .
On 2 July 2014 I swam the English Channel in 13 hours and 9 minutes . It is described as the longest swim you can do , followed by the hardest ; after 12 hours of swimming I approached the French shores and had to swim as hard as I could for an hour just to prevent the rising tide from washing me away from the beach , which would have resulted in another three hours of swimming !
After I recovered from this I wanted another challenge , and that ’ s what has led me to where I am today .
My goal for 2017 is to attempt to swim the 42km Ka ’ iwi Channel , between the Hawaiian islands of Moloka ’ i and Oahu , at some point in time between 3 and 10 April . This channel is known as the ‘ Channel of Bones ’ as it ’ s nearly always rough , affected by strong trade winds and large swells , and is home to a lot of sealife including sharks and Portuguese man o ’ wars . To date , it ’ s been successfully swum by 43 people ( six of whom are Australian ). The world record is a little over 12 hours ; I need to plan for 15 to 18 hours of swimming , starting late in the evening , where I ’ ll swim to Oahu through the night and into the next day .
My training has provided me with many swimming adventures in the beaches of Sydney , including having swum the 27km from Palm Beach to Manly twice . In
6 OH ! MAGAZINE ( MARCH 2017 )