I swam a 10km race at the age of 56 - and you can too

Meet Jayna Gordon.

Darwin mother of four, small business owner and long-distance swimmer extraordinaire.

Last month, 56-year-old Jayna competed in the iconic Kimberleys’ Lake Argyle 10km swim – for the second time.

And she did in just under three hours.

But she’s not done yet.

Jayna - who is a member of the Darwin Stingers Masters’ Swimming Club - aims to ring in her 60th birthday in 2025 by swimming 20km of the Lake.

We caught up with Jayna for a Q & A about all things marathon swimming.

***Jayna (right) with her daughter Rachel, who paddled for her at Lake Argyle.***

How long have you been swimming for?

I swam in a squad in Sydney until I turned 13 but then didn’t start swimming again until 14 years ago when I joined Stingers.

Why did you want to swim Lake Argyle?

The other Darwin stingers raved about the Lake Argyle swim and I knew I’d love open water swimming, so in 2014 I talked some friends into joining me in a team.

This year was a family affair – how were they all involved?

Each year I’ve dragged the whole family over to Argyle as the kids were growing up and it has become a well-loved family trip away. This year we all had a go. Hubby and three of the daughters swam in a 10k quad team with our granddaughter paddling. Our 4th daughter paddled for me and our son-in-law drove the boat. We had three generations out on the water!

They all loved it and want to do it again.

Next year, Masters Swimming NT is hosting the nationals on the same weekend as the Lake Argyle swim. I have to be in Darwin for that but I’m getting a lot of pressure from the fam to do Argyle again. So we’ll do it the year after.

I’m thinking of trying the 20km in 2026. It’s the year I turn 60!

What was involved in training for the event?

I think what I like the most about training for the 10k is the challenge and discipline of doing something solely for myself. Having raised four daughters and run a small full- time family business, I’ve had little time to devote to myself. I knew I could do it physically with the right training. My coach Giorgio Romano has been fantastic helping with that, but the mental commitment was the tricky part.

I began training in November, slowly building up to between 6 and 9km a day, 4 days a week.

This year I had Covid during the Christmas break, and one thing after another, I only managed about six weeks of intense training. Luckily, having done the 10k the year before I knew I could do it. The cut off was 5.5 hours. I made it in a little over 3 hours - we had very good conditions.

What were the most challenging and rewarding parts of the swim?

This year’s swim wasn’t really that challenging. The conditions can be really windy and rough. I knew I wasn’t race fit so the pressure was off, and if I just put my head down and swam I’d make it to the end. The reward was actually doing a decent time.

That surprised me!

What if you haven’t swum since you were a kid, can you still do an endurance swim?

Absolutely, with the right coaching and a serious effort at training I think anyone could have a go! The Darwin Stingers have been amazing for me. The coaches all know what they’re doing and the support is awesome.

Interested in having a go at open water swimming? You can sign up for the Waterfront 3.2 Dry Season edition, run by Masters Swimming NT, happening this Saturday June 10. There are three distances on offer including 400m, 1.6km and 3.2km. Registrations close Wednesday at 8pm.

Check out the Darwin Stingers on Facebook and Instagram for a plenty of swim training options for all ages 18+ and abilities. The Darwin Stingers is Australia’s largest Masters swimming club and based at Parap Pool.

I swam a 10km race at the age of 56 - and you can too

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