Meet Helen Knight. Up until two years ago she was in and out of hospital with asthma, struggled to swim more than a single lap, and was scared to swim in open water. But in February, she’ll be flying from Mansfield in Victoria to WA to swim 3.6km around the southern hemisphere’s longest timber-pile jetty!
Helen said her swimming journey began poolside while watching her kids at squad training.
I wondered if I could swim laps and decided to hop in and give it a try. I managed one before I was out of breath. Not long after, a friend challenged me to swim 1km. I took breaks at each end, but I got it done and it’s just grown from there.
When the local pool closed, Helen was determined to keep swimming. Despite being scared of swimming in open water, she headed to a nearby lake with a group of local swimmers.
Week after week I kept showing up to swim. Once I started learning about breathing and technique, I became more confident. I got stronger, faster, and well, addicted.
A friend and I decided to swim right through winter at Lake Eildon in the foothills of the Victorian Alps. The water was 9°C, so we’d be in head-to-toe neoprene, with a thermos of soup and a makeshift post-swim warm shower in the back of the ute.
Helen went on to complete the 3.1km Lake Boga bank-to-bank in December 2024 and then set her sights on the Busselton Jetty Swim.
I’d seen some amazing aerial shots of thousands of people swimming around this massive jetty and said to my husband, ‘We should do that.’
They made a deal: if they both got through the ballot, they’d leave the kids at home this time, fly to Western Australia, and take on the event together. They both got in, and will be joined by a small group of other Mansfield swimmers.
It’ll be my longest continuous swim ever — and in the ocean — a big challenge for a lake-swimming inlander who lives five hours from a beach. But I’m ready, and I can’t wait!
Somewhere along the way, something else remarkable happened: her asthma disappeared. No Ventolin. No steroids. Not even a cold since.