Perth, Western Australia March 24, 2007 Home News Time Out Letters Write a Letter Classifieds Search Real Estate Trades & Services Submit About Contact Us Advertising Legal	Rotto and return in record time Keira getting ready on the beach in the pre-dawn dark. Pictures: Jay Macfarlane A swim from Leighton to Rottnest is a great achievement - to turn around and swim back is the stuff of legends. And that's what Keira Macfarlane did last Saturday. Her dad Jay said: "My daughter's done an incredible swim; the weather was perfect and her record might stand for a long time. "She left Leighton beach at 6.30, in the dark on Saturday morning, getting to Rottnest in under five hours. "She was allowed to stand in the shallows for 10 minutes applying sun tan and barrier creams...then back in the water for the return swim arriving back at Leighton at 5.30pm to a welcome by some 50 close friends. "With an official swim time of 10 hours and 18 minutes, Keira became only the fourth swimmer in history to complete a double, and she smashed the previous best time by an hour and a half." Keira (29), a former St Hilda's girl, was a member of St Hilda's swimming team. She now lives in Brighton. Keira's triumphant landfall, on the mainland. She said: "A lot of credit goes to my team and my family. My coach Peter Tanham has done 21 Rottos and one double swim, as well as the English channel. He and several other support swimmers helped me." Keira has done three solo Rottnest swims and trains by doing 10km in a pool every Saturday and 7km in the ocean every Sunday. She said the weather kept improving as she swam, enabling the boat skipper to steer almost straight to Rottnest - so that she swam only 36.4km instead of the usual 40km most swimmers cover on the journey. The lightly built Mosman Park-based IT specialist was pleased to balance the books with a super swim after the frustration of the Cottesloe to Rottnest swim being cancelled three weeks ago due to rough weather. And on Monday she was back in the water. Keira has done many triathlons and her sister is also a triathlete. On the day of the Cottesloe to Rottnest cancellation, Keira was so determined to do a serious swim that she swam to Rockingham instead of Rottnest with her escort team. She is planning a holiday in Nepal - by trekking from Kathmandu to the base camp at the foot of Mt Everest, a four-week getaway from water. Do you have something to say? Write to us and we may publish your letter next week. BACK TO TOP < PREVIOUS - HOME - NEXT> Copyright © 1999 - 2008 Post Newspapers Pty Ltd. All rights reserved.