It’s fair to say that we get a fair few loyal swimmers who come back year after year…we endearingly call them the ‘hardcores’ and you will have seen some of them get a special mention in our blueseventy Golden Goggles Hall of Fame articles. However sometimes people go way beyond what many of us may call the normal limits of recreational activities…we all know someone we call a ‘nutter’…you know the type…the people who swim without wetsuits right through winter, who do both the ‘I’m Going Long’ and ‘Step It Up’ on the same day in our New Zealand Ocean Swim Series event, they might even travel all over the continent seemingly spending more time in water than on dry land. Well Mike Cochrane is all of those things, perhaps making him New Zealand’s ultimate ocean swimming nutter.
You may have heard of the FOS Tallies Contest…a competition based on accruing as many kilometres of open water swimming as possible in one season of events in Oceania. Mike is currently dominating the field having smashed the 200km benchmark, almost a full 100km ahead of the next swimmer. In total, he is hoping to complete over 300km of ocean swims over the season. Just to put this phenomenal effort into perspective, last year’s winner ‘only’ completed 185km… A special congratulations also to Rebecca Hollingsworth, Joanne-Marie Bell, Wayne Annan and Pauline Mills who have all earned a place in the top ten, using the New Zealand Ocean Swim Series to clock up some serious km!
The deserving champion of the tallies competition will win a free trip to Vanuatu…to take part in yet another swim series in June. No rest for the wicked aye!
Mike credits his passion for the sport to its peacefulness. As an IT contractor regularly on call, there’s an expectation to always be contactable, to which swimming can provide a welcome escape.
Over the years he’s also adopted ‘swimming families’ wherever he goes in New Zealand, so whenever he swims out of town there are still the familiar faces and “friendly rivalries” on the start lines. You can always spot Mike on these start lines, as he’ll always have the brightest togs in the field. Recalling his transition into a ‘togs swimmer’ he explains “after experiencing the freedom and simplicity that comes with non-wetsuit swimming I would never go back” – apparently not even during winter when sea temperatures get down to 14 degrees Celsius, brrrr!
He’s not even from a swimming background: 34 year old Mike has only really been swimming for about eight years, after being lured into the sport by good friend Kellie Sherwen. Since his “very slow Harbour Crossing” debut in 2007, it has been his mission to beat everyone in the Sherwen family, something which he has finally achieved for the first time this season!
Mike’s next event is our State King of the Bays on 18th April, where he will be tucking a further 2.8km under his belt – cracking effort!
