Chris and Penny Palfrey

About Us

 

We live in Townsville, a large coastal town (popn. 170,000) in North Queensland, Australia. Looking at a map, we are situated in the upper right hand corner of Australia. We are in the tropics, 19 degrees south of the equator, and have the great barrier reef on our doorstep (almost).

 

We finance our open water swimming addiction and travels by running a small accounting practice.

 

Penny was born in Scarborough, England and started swimming at age 9. She represented Britain in middle distance pool swimming as a teenager (under the tutelage of Mike Higgs). She migrated to Australia at the age of 19, and after a 12 year break from the pool whilst she raised her three children, decided to enter a short local river swim. Realising she was still competitive, she thought she would try to fit in a bit of training between family duties, to see what she was capable of. One thing led to another, and in 1993, she was selected to swim for Australia in the 25k open water, alongside Shelley Taylor-Smith and Melissa Cunningham (the 1991 and 1994 world champions respectively).

 

Chris was born in Melbourne, Australia and did hardly any swimming until the age of thirty. He started to do a few laps when he took up triathlons in the late 1980’s. After a few years and a few injuries, he decided swimming was a bit kinder on the body.

 

We both prefer distance events and particularly open water, for the competition, the challenge (to mind and body) and the opportunity to travel and meet some truly amazing people. And another really exciting thing about open water crossings, is that even in the 21^st century, you can still be a pioneer. There are still events and crossings in lakes, rivers and along coastlines in almost every continent, which hardly anyone has swum.

 

These challenges make open water swimming, for us, very exciting and give us the incentive to put in the training kilometres.

A brief summary of swimming achievements is as follows. For in depth accounts of our major swims, please refer to that section of our website.

 

 

 

Penny

• Two crossings of the English Channel resulting in seven awards from the Channel Swimming Association.
• First person to ever swim the Santa Barbara Channel from San Miguel Island to the California mainland (this swim was officially recognised by the IMSHOF).
• First person ever to swim From Santa Barbara Island to Point Vincente (LA coast). This swim was also recognised by the IMSHOF.
• First woman to swim the Alenuihaha Channel from Hawai’i (big island) to Maui (this swim was officially recognised by the IMSHOF). Fastest time for this crossing.
• First person to ever swim between Santa Rosa and Santa Cruz Islands, off Santa Barbara, CA.
• First woman to swim the Au’au channel from Maui to Lana’i (note: other women have swum from Lana’i to Maui).
• Cook Strait, New Zealand.
• Manhattan Island Marathon Swim, New York City. Three race finishes. Overall winner in 2007 and women’s winner in 2007, 2008 and 2009.
• Tampa Bay Marathon Swim. Overall winner in 2008, and women’s course record holder.
• Strait of Gibraltar. First Australian woman to complete this crossing.
• Rottnest Channel Swim, Australia. Nine race crossings, including twice overall winner.
• Part of a relay team which in 2009, set a new world record for the longest ever lake relay swim.
• Represented England in pool swimming and Australia in open water swimming. Six podium finishes in Australian open water swimming national titles.
• Numerous medals in international “masters” competitions and several FINA masters world records.
• Inducted into the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame in May, 2010.

 

Chris

• Manhattan Island Marathon Swim. Three race finishes.
• Catalina Island to LA (San Pedro Channel)
• Tampa Bay Marathon Swim. Second male finisher in 2008.
• Strait of Gibraltar.

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• Along with Penny, first male to swim between Santa Rosa and Santa Cruz Islands, off the California coast.
• First non-American to swim the Kaiwi channel from Moloka’i to Oahu - Fastest time for this crossing
• First Australian to swim the Pailolo channel from Maui to Moloka’i
• First Australian to swim the Au’au channel from Maui to Lana’i (note:others have swum from Lana’i to Maui)
• Rottnest Channel Swim. Nine race crossings.
• Part of a relay team which in 2009, set a new world record for the longest ever lake relay swim.
• Several minor medals in international “masters” competitions.