The Australian marathon swimming community has a new reason to celebrate with the launch of Australia’s own Long Swim Database!

Developed by Alan Boydell and Dean Summers, this volunteer-run initiative was created in collaboration with the Australian Long Distance Swimming Federation (ALDSF) to bring greater visibility and recognition to Australia’s rich open-water swimming culture.

The database serves as a comprehensive repository for long-distance swims, ensuring that Australian swimmers’ achievements are recorded, acknowledged, and easily accessible.

A new hub for marathon swimming data

Whether you’re a swimmer, coach, or fan, the Australian Long Swim Database puts the world of marathon swimming at your fingertips. Designed to showcase individual achievements and Australia’s iconic long-distance swim events, the database is a valuable tool for tracking, celebrating, and researching open-water swimming performances.

Mr Alan Boydell, founder of the Australian Long Swim Database, explains the motivation behind the creation of the database.

“Until the launch of this Australian Marathon Swims Database, us marathon swimmers could only rely on US-based organisations with a much broader focus,” said Mr Boydell.

“The Australian database is prepared by Australian swimmers to record Australian swims and international swims completed by Australians.

“We make no judgment, provide no commentary, and aim to record all swims over 10 kilometres to share with the marathon swimming community.”

With marathon swimming’s growing popularity, this resource provides a much-needed centralised space to highlight the country’s long-distance swimming legacy.

Transparency, Inclusivity, and Recognition

The Australian Long Swim Database operates with a commitment to transparency and inclusivity. Unlike traditional ratifying bodies, the database does not approve or verify swims but instead publishes results as ratified by race organisers and authoritative bodies such as the ALDSF. By doing so, it ensures that data remains accurate, up-to-date, and reflective of Australia’s thriving marathon swimming community.

Unless otherwise stated, all swim data is sourced directly from race and event organisers, relevant federations, or publicly available race result platforms. The database also includes a dedicated section for international swims, such as English Channel crossings, with data sourced from the Channel Swimming & Piloting Federation (CSPF) and the Channel Swimming Association (CSA), thanks to the meticulous work of Julian Critchlow in compiling and verifying results.

Mr Boydell also explained why the English Channel swim was included in the database when most focus was on Australian events.

“Australian international swimming has grown exponentially over the past 10 years, and we are overrepresented in almost all international swims, ” said Mr Boydell.

“There have been over four hundred successful Australian swims across the iconic English Channel, making Australia the third most represented nation overall, so we thought it was a good opportunity to be more inclusive.

“Our database has plenty of capacity and is not limited by volume, so why not include popular international swims that have clearly captured the imagination of Australians.”

How to get involved

The database welcomes input from the community. If you notice any errors or missing swims, you can submit a request for modification. Additionally, if you’re a marathon swim organiser or part of a ratifying body and would like to contribute results, the database team encourages collaboration to keep the records as comprehensive as possible.

According to Mr Boydell, the database is already proving beneficial to the Australian open-water swimming community.

“The database has already captured the imagination of swimmers and serves to encourage and promote Australian long-distance swimming,” said Mr Boydell.

“We all want to see our names, distances, and times recorded in a reliable way and discover the feats of our fellow swimmers.

“It’s a fun resource that’s free, inclusive, and is enjoying universal support.”

The database’s launch has been enthusiastically received by swimmers, coaches, and event organisers around Australia.

“We were quite surprised at the large number of Australian swims whose organisers have contacted us wanting to participate,” said Mr Boydell.

“We didn’t plan on providing an exhaustive list of available Australian swims over 10 km, but it is now clear that it could be a unique opportunity to put it all in one place.

“For a number of reasons, this became the right time for us to have our own homegrown resource, and the positive feedback we’ve received already certainly seems to confirm this.”

Encouraging more swimmers to take on long swims

Mr Boydell hopes the Long Swim Database will not only celebrate past achievements but also inspire future swimmers to take on new challenges.

“The database will promote and encourage long-distance swims for all the obvious reasons,” said Mr Boydell.

“The inspiration to take on long swims and to dedicate a lot of time for training and preparation must come from within each swimmer.

“We expect that the database can support their decisions and help them get a sense of whichever swim they decide to take on. It’s also a way to discover new swims people may not have heard of previously.”