LENE Knudsen continues to show the world she is one of the best masters’ swimmers, based in the humble town of Beerwah.
Knudsen recently competed at the Ocean Swim Fiji competition as an individual swimmer, won all three of her 1km races, and took out the crown for best in her age group and overall.
There were nine competitors in Lene’s age category of 40-49, and her overall race time of 53.03 was just three minutes quicker than swimming legend Shane Gould, who she had the honour of meeting.
“I met a bit of a celebrity, I was pretty star struck I must admit, she was just lovely and was happy to share her story, she talked a lot about her philosophy around her training which was so interesting,” Lene said.
“She gave me some great advice, she said to swim your own style and not try and copy the best swimmers, its better to work with what you already have and swim how it best feels natural to you.”
Although Lene has competed in open water events before, this was her first international and multi day open water competition, which is different to when she swims for the Beerwah Masters Swim team.
“It’s quite different, in a pool you’re in your lane and you know exactly where you’re going and you can’t swim into other people, so you have to be careful you don’t swim into anyone in open water events,” she said.
“But we had a fantastic water safety team who were around the course and looked after us to ensure there was no swimmers bumping into each other or anything like that.
“I honestly got quite distracted through the races too with how beautiful Fiji is and how clear the water is, being able to see fish and coral while I was swimming.”
Lene’s next individual swimming event will be from August 2 to 11 at the World Aquatics Masters Championships in Kyushu, Japan.
