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COVID scuppered the 2020 Freyberg Memorial Swim, but it's back for 2021!Come enjoy the last open water swim of the season. This year there are two options:
1. The Anzac swim - from Freyberg beach around the lighthouse (approx 3km).
2. The Baby Bernard - from Freyberg beach around the pontoon and fountain (approx 700m).
There will be safety boats for both options (sponsored by NZ Defence Force).
The first finisher for the Anzac swim will get to light a white flare on the beach!
Dependent on weather, the alternative location is Hataitai Beach.
Please be on the Freyberg beach at Oriental Bay beside Freyberg Pool at 2pm on Anzac Day. You'll be required to register your name for safety purposes. Before the swim, we'll hear about Sir Bernard Freyberg's accomplishments. He wasn't just a war hero, he was a NZ champion swimmer, a great Wellingtonian and New Zealander.
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In the early hours of the morning of 25 April 1915 off the coast of Gallipoli, Sir Bernard Freyberg slipped into the freezing ocean. He swam 3.2km to shore, covered in black grease and towing a raft of flares. Once on land at Bulair, he lit the first of the series of flares intended as a diversion for the Gallipoli invasion.
Dentist, war hero, Governor General, adventurer - Sir Bernard Freyberg is a great example of the strength of character that can exist in each one of us.
Freyberg is a real hero, a larger than life example of a man who welcomed the challenges that came with adventure, and displayed self-sacrificial courage repeatedly.
Over a century after his heroic swim at Gallipoli, this event is in his memory to acknowledge and celebrate the man that was Sir Bernard Freyberg.
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Freyberg Beach & Playground, Oriental Pde, Wellington, New Zealand 6011, New Zealand