The Australian Surf Life Saving Championships – ‘Aussies’ – is the pinnacle of surf lifesaving sport where Australia’s best surf athletes from over 314 clubs battle it out.

This year the event is being held at Scarborough Beach in Perth, and, as part of the event, ocean swimmers from all over Australia can become an Aussies athlete for a day, with the 2km Aussies Ocean Swim open to the public on Sunday, the 26th of March.

Not only do ocean swimmers get to race against the best ironmen and women in Australia, but the event will also be providing participants with a festival atmosphere to enjoy post-swim.

“We have a lot of exciting things happening at the Australian Surf Life Saving Championships this year,” said Ms Tamara Ryan, marketing executive at Surf Life Saving Australia.

“Swimmers will be able to swim against some of Australia’s best surf athletes and then enjoy our festival zone at Scarborough Beach or watch some of our other surf events happening, post-swim.

“In our festival zone, we have a huge array of stalls and activities for everyone in the family to be entertained by.

“We will have our merchandise tent which is full of Aussies apparel, a chill-out zone, plenty of food and coffee stalls and a kids zone which will also have face painting.

“We will also have sunset markets and the Minions will be visiting on Saturday 25 March and Sunday 26 March to say hello to the kids.”

After putting their toe on the line next to some of Australia’s best, swimmers will get to take on a fun 2km course along beautiful Scarborough Beach.

“The course this year is pretty straight-forward but really showcases Scarborough Beach which is stunning,” said Ms Ryan.

“Swimmers will start on the beach before swimming out and around a rectangle course in a clockwise direction.

“The distances of the course are out 200m, then 750m along the beach, followed by 50m out away from the beach, then a right turn for another 750m along the beach before turning and heading straight back to the beach.