February 6, 2024 • 44 mins
Townsville marathon swimmer Julie Boxsell joins us on this episode of Torpedo Swimtalk Podcast to share her deep-seated love for open water swimming and the community it fosters. Julie gives us an insider's look at her disciplined training regimen, including arduous double sessions, all building up to her next swim challenge in Tasmania's Derwent River. She doesn't just swim through stinger-infested waters; Julie swims through life's uncertainties, drawing strength from her unwavering support crew and the connections she's made that transcend the competition itself.
Julie recounts her Manhattan 20 Bridges marathon – a swim she had to complete twice, back to back, because lightning stopped the first one at the eleventh hour. We discussed the need for mental fortitude and the agility to adapt when something like this happens.
As we celebrate the vibrant open water events and the camaraderie that defines the swimming community, Julie reflects on the profound reasons that compel swimmers to confront monumental challenges such as the English Channel. Our dialogue journeys through the logistical maze of planning international swims, the strategy of seizing the best time slots, and the dream of creating new swim events on Australian shores.
Join us to feel the thrill and passion that fuel marathon swimmers like Julie Boxsell.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Danielle Spurling (00:04):
Hello Swimmers and welcome to another
episode of torpedo swim talkpodcast.
I'm your host, DanielleSpurling, and each week we chat
to a master swimmer from aroundthe world about their swimming
journey.
We love bringing youinteresting swimmer stories and
today's guest is no exception.
(00:25):
Julie Box is a marathon swimmerfrom Townsville in Australia
and among her manyaccomplishments is a completed
Australian triple crown, as wellas completing Catalina and
Manhattan.
Getting the crowns is lovely,but that's not what inspires
Julie.
It is the training journeyalong the way and the wonderful
(00:47):
people she meets in the openwater swimming community that
are her motivation.
As soon as we finished speaking, Julie was jetting off to
another swim in Tasmania'sDerwent River.
Let's hear from Julie now.
Julie is a marathon swimmerfrom Townsville in Australia and
(01:08):
she's completed the Australiantriple crown as well as Catalina
and Manhattan swims.
Hi, julie, welcome and thanksfor joining us on the podcast.
Julie Box (01:18):
No problem, Danielle, I'm very nervous.
This is my first podcast ever.
Danielle Spurling (01:23):
Fantastic, we'll aim to get you not nervous
and you can tell us all aboutyour swimming.
When did you get your last swimin?
Julie Box (01:32):
Yesterday morning I went to a little squad that runs
and I then took a break.
I was supposed to swimyesterday as well, but I was a
little bit sore in the bicep sodecided I wouldn't swim and I'll
go this afternoon.
Danielle Spurling (01:48):
Okay, which pool do you base yourself out?
Of?
Julie Box (01:50):
There's a few in Townsville.
I mostly probably frequentLongtown because I mostly swim
by myself, but I also have swamwith a squad at Cathedral and
they're just currently using anAikenbell pool and I'll go
anywhere.
Danielle Spurling (02:04):
Okay, well, it sounds like a good swimming
scene up there and I knowobviously you're an open water
marathon swimmer and at timesduring the year you probably
can't swim by open water inTownsville.
Julie Box (02:15):
Yeah, yeah, right now it's not a great time for
swimming.
So we live on the coast andthere's a wonderful ocean out
there, but for six months of theyear there's box jellyfish and
ira kanji.
So they put up the Stinger Netsand that's great, but it gives
you like a little 100 metrerectangle that you can swim in
and it's not very pleasant.
(02:37):
I feel like a mermaid in a net,basically.
So the only other option is theriver, and the river is very
warm.
At the moment it's about 32,and there's blue-green algae
warnings and there's a lot ofweed with the heat as well, and
I also am a bit scared ofswimming in the river in the
(02:59):
heat because I got a parasite inmy eye some time ago, probably
from there, and yeah, I don'twant to take that risk again.
Danielle Spurling (03:09):
No, that sounds fair enough.
It must be excruciating livingthat close to such a beautiful
coastline and not being able togo in and swim.
Julie Box (03:17):
Yeah, it's funny, though, because everyone thinks,
oh, tropical North Queensland,beautiful water, and look, it
looks fantastic.
But even in winter when you gofor a swim, it is, you know,
it's algae and mud.
It's still warm.
You come out and you've got amustache from the algae and a
beard.
It just sticks to the littlefacial hairs on women, so it's
(03:39):
not great.
You can't see your fingers infront of your face, whereas if
you get off the coast it'sfantastic.
Danielle Spurling (03:45):
But yeah, right, where I swim, it's not
that great, so obviously youprobably do most of your
training in the pool.
How many times I know you wentyesterday, but how many times do
you generally get there duringthe week?
Julie Box (03:59):
Yeah, well, when I'm earnestly training, which I am
at the moment, it's usually it'sprobably twice a day, most days
, and that's about fitting inaround work and so on.
Like I only have pool accessfrom 5.30 to 7.
Got to be out for work.
You're trying to build aroundwhat's available to you, so you
(04:21):
know, sometimes the squads inthe afternoon take over.
So if I could finish work early, then I'll go and do another
session.
Then I don't know, it's prettyhard to say.
I would probably suggest I do agood 10 sessions in the pool,
but hard to know.
Danielle Spurling (04:36):
Yeah, so what are you getting prepared for
right now?
Julie Box (04:41):
I'm going to Hobart tomorrow and I'm doing a 15k
event on the Dowent River withabout 40 other people and then
I'm if the weather gods are okay, then I'm hoping to do a longer
swim as well.
We'll just have to wait and seehow that pans out.
Danielle Spurling (05:00):
Having that sort of yes or no, you're going
to do it, you're not going to doit, depending on the weather.
So how do you organise asupport crew to be sort of on
standby?
Julie Box (05:08):
Well, this one's easy , and this is the thing with
marathon swimming If you gothrough pilots or whatever on
established things, it's prettyeasy.
You pay the money, you turn upand we go quick and go.
Support wise, my person on theboat will probably be two people
, one of which is a woman namedTara from Western Australia, so
(05:33):
we're camping down theretogether and another guy, myron,
who has been my support personin Catalina and he also went to
New York with me.
He came over for Kepel Island,not for me, he was helping out
the guy that was running at Val,but he will probably be on that
boat as well.
Danielle Spurling (05:51):
So Well, that's good that you've got
someone going with you thatknows a little bit about your
swimming and sort of the waythat you do it, because I know
everyone approaches it slightlydifferently.
Let's have a talk about theManhattan swim, because I know
that was one that you didrecently and it's a big swim, a
huge swim, and there's a lot ofchallenges and highlights along
(06:11):
the way.
Yeah, how did you approach withyour mindset?
How did you approach the actualswim on the day?
Julie Box (06:18):
Look, honestly, there was no problem with the
Manhattan swim.
With my mindset, because thisis the swim that has been the
top of my bucket list foreverSince I heard about it, since I
started sort of exploring thiswhole thing and looking at what
I wanted to do, manhattan wasthe top of my tree.
So, mindset, I was justecstatic.
(06:40):
There was never going to be aproblem there.
I had an absolute ball,unfortunately, like I did one of
the night swims.
So the island of Manhattan westarted in the evening, went
three quarters of the way aroundand there was only one other
swimmer on that night and that'sEd Horn.
He started a similar time to me.
(07:01):
He and I were in the waterhaving a ball.
When we got to the end of theHarlem River and a big storm
came in.
It whipped up the poor oldkayak.
It was just being blasted backI don't know how he was keeping
up or even staying in.
And just before the big GeorgeWashington Bridge there'd been
(07:23):
lightning.
But this lightning struck soclose that my entire body, here,
everything, was standing on end.
It had lit up the waterunderneath me and the crew
pulled us out.
So we were 19 bridges into the20 bridge swim and we were
pulled out and Manhattan soundslike it's completely inhabited,
(07:45):
like a massive city, but up theend where we were, there's
really not a lot.
So it was a quick dash over tothe only place which we could
get to and we sat there and kindof rode out the storm which
actually, ironically, of course,got better immediately after
and then made our way home.
We were basically, you know,the boats did their thing.
(08:09):
We were like, okay, we walk outhere, and it was like walking
into a movie set with thehighway above us and this little
cul-de-sac with broken downcars and fires in those
20-gallon drums and people likedrinking from their paper bags,
and it was hilarious.
So we all went home and Ed wasjust like, oh well, I'll do it
(08:32):
again later.
And I was like, hey, guys, I'vegot to leave in 36 hours, but
if you can give me another go.
And they pulled out all stops.
It was fantastic.
They managed to get me anotherteam set up for that next night.
So we started again the nextevening and did the whole thing
(08:52):
again.
Danielle Spurling (08:53):
Wow, you did it.
You backed up.
I mean, I can't believe thatyou must have been exhausted.
Julie Box (08:59):
Oh yeah, I was.
But I also was like, oh man, Icannot afford to come back here.
You know, flights, all that.
This is not an A, this is avery expensive sport that I've
found myself doing.
I bet and I just thought I wantto.
I want to do the whole thing.
So the difficulties there werethat I drunk most of my feeds
(09:19):
going around the first time.
We weren't sure whether we'regoing or not, so we made these
mad dashes to an Americansupermarket where it just grabs
stuff off the shelves and threwthat in and have that for feeds,
most of which work.
Some came up and fed the fishes, but less and less.
Danielle Spurling (09:38):
Wow, it sounds fantastic.
Is the second one?
You at night time as well, wereyou?
Yes?
Julie Box (09:44):
yes.
Danielle Spurling (09:44):
And how long did it take you to complete the
whole thing?
Julie Box (09:46):
It took me about nine and a half hours, but I'm more
than happy with that.
There's there's a bit of atidal assistance for most of it.
There's also tied against youfor a big chunk the first night.
You know there's an hour and ahalf of basically looking at the
same set of bricks.
I think I worked out my strokeweight was about 10 strokes per
meter for a good while.
(10:07):
So you know it's it's likeevery swim.
It's a long swim, it's achallenging swim.
People say it's easy, but Ithink that's because they've
already weedled out people whenthey go through their
applications.
So they're really gettingpeople that have sort of shown
that they can do a long time inthe water already, whereas most
other swims you know they'lltake anybody that pays,
(10:30):
basically.
Danielle Spurling (10:31):
Right, and talking about nutrition and
hydration during the swim, whatdo you?
What did you do the first time,which was what you actually
wanted to do?
Julie Box (10:42):
Oh, I feed every half an hour.
I'm very basic.
I don't do anything expensive.
Actually I was making up feedstoday.
I pretty much have what's thatthat's sarscorial and I've mixed
in a gel in that just for extraand some baby Pannadol and
(11:02):
ibuprofen.
So that's my three and a halfhour feed.
I've got Powerade.
I do Staminade.
I've got cake that's lemon cakethere.
Every hour and a half I like alittle bit of lemon cake.
Yeah, I'm pretty basic.
I have chocolate milk sometimes.
I just I switch things aroundevery time and get through it.
(11:24):
I'm pretty much been doing itlong enough now that I know that
most things are going to godown.
Okay, just nothing too rich.
The thing that got me was aDairy Queen coffee in Manhattan.
I thought that that would begood for a bit of caffeine cake,
but it was, I don't know, madeon corn syrup or something
disgusting and rich.
Danielle Spurling (11:43):
And does it sound like the right thing to
have you know for next time?
And how many K?
How much sort of K were youputting in your training before
Manhattan each week?
Julie Box (11:51):
I was probably the last few years, so until until
23.
I was for the three yearsbefore that I was probably
averaging about 35 K a week forall sorts of reasons.
Predominantly is I love it, soit's easy to do.
The last year, after I had theparasite in my eye, things sort
(12:14):
of slowed down.
I had a couple of illnesses.
I sort of cut back a bit.
I sort of worked it up againfor Manhattan and then the last
few months I really haven't donemuch at all until this month.
So I was probably only doing 15to 20 a week and now I'm more
like at the 30 for the lastmonth.
Danielle Spurling (12:32):
And when you say you do a lot of training by
yourself, do you write your ownprograms or do you have someone
that oversees that?
Julie Box (12:39):
No, I don't really have anyone that oversees it.
My friend Val, who works out ofRocky, knows that I was really
struggling to work myself hardin the pool when I was by myself
.
So every now and again hethrows me a set and that's
fantastic because they're reallyvaried typesets.
But most of the time I go inand I have to take in the
temperature of the water andwhat else is going on.
(13:00):
So at the moment it's reallyhot, 32, 33 degrees in the water
.
So I'm doing a lot of slowconcentrating drills, that sort
of stuff and very short,intermittent, harder stuff
because it's just physicallyzapping me.
Danielle Spurling (13:17):
Yes, and at the same time it's still 32 or
33 at 530 in the morning.
Julie Box (13:23):
Yeah yeah yeah, yeah, so it depends on the day.
It's been down to 30 on acouple of occasions, but that's
if we've had rain and overcastand whatever.
But even post cyclone I got in,I went 32.
Danielle Spurling (13:36):
Yeah, that's hot, that's really hot.
I know I was suing this morningat our heated outdoor pool that
we have and it was 28, and thatwas boiling Bless.
Oh my God, I'll swap you, itwas really hot.
I found it hot this morning.
Julie Box (13:53):
And that to me just sounds so wonderful, because
even the winter up here there'sa townspeople.
They just don't do cold, sothey heat the pools here to 30
degrees all year round, and thenin summer of course they're not
heating it.
But they just said, the ocean'shot, the river is hot,
(14:13):
everything is hot.
Danielle Spurling (14:15):
Yeah, well, that's the joy of Far North
Queensland.
Julie Box (14:19):
Yeah, makes it interesting when you've gone to
Hobart tomorrow.
Danielle Spurling (14:24):
Yes, yeah, that'll be quite cool,
definitely, and so you'vecompleted both Manhattan and
Catalina.
What's sort of the notabledifferences for you between the
two?
Julie Box (14:36):
Look, every swim is different and how can you even
like my swimming in Catalina isso different to somebody else's
swimming in Catalina?
My swimming in Manhattan?
I managed to support andobserve other swimmers in
Manhattan on boats.
One of them was ChristineCapola, who you interviewed, and
she, like that was fantastic,but every one of those trips
(14:59):
around the island was sodifferent for the swimmer.
Catalina, of course, is at openwater.
I had a really rough night butI loved it, Whereas I've had
other Australians tell me, oh,they hated it, that they got
sick from the stars and thebioluminescence and it was just
all disconcerting, Whereas Iloved every second.
Danielle Spurling (15:23):
That sounds beautiful.
What time of the day did youstart the Catalina swim?
Julie Box (15:28):
About 10 o'clock, 9.30, 10 o'clock at night.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, andthen you'd just swim across.
It's a big long swim.
It was rough as guts.
I loved it.
I think it was about 13 and 1half hours.
And then, once I got to theshore, we couldn't even land
where we wanted to land.
(15:48):
We were being swept up thecoast or down the coast, I don't
know.
I then I just swim out throughthis really rough ocean.
The poor old kayak it was justbeing tossed around.
It took me another 20 minutesto get back to the boat because
they were like being crabbedsideways.
It was just hilarious.
Danielle Spurling (16:11):
Both of those swims you started, or you
started and finished Manhattanin the dark.
How do you prepare for that,because you're doing most of
your swimming in the daytime inthe light.
Julie Box (16:22):
Yeah, that's true.
Look, I don't know.
Number one I'm not scared of it, so it doesn't really make that
much of a difference.
Number two before all of this Ihad many, you know, when COVID
came along and they closed thepools and I was swimming in the
river then and to get to work itwas the middle of the year so
(16:44):
we didn't have much daylight andto get to work after a swim I
had to start in the dark.
So I would often start at 4.30or 5 o'clock in the morning in
pitch black, sometimes withother people, sometimes by
myself, and I would just hop inand swim towards, you know, the
we are, which is a couple of Kdown the track, and I just got
(17:05):
used to it.
Like there's freshwater crocsand stuff in there, there's weed
, there's all that sort of stuff, and doing that at night, I
don't know.
I just got pretty comfortablewith it.
So I didn't think it was goingto be an issue and it wasn't so.
Danielle Spurling (17:21):
Yeah, well, you're very brave, because
there's no way I would get inthe dark and do that.
Fresh, freshwater crocs.
Julie Box (17:29):
Yeah Well, they're only freshies.
So it you know.
What are they going to do?
Only.
Danielle Spurling (17:35):
How big?
How big can they get Freshwatercrocs?
Julie Box (17:38):
Oh they, yeah, the, the weir that I normally swim in
in the mountains, where there'sone in there that is so big and
so fat.
It looks like a salty and it'salways being reported as a salty
, but it's not.
Danielle Spurling (17:50):
That's good to know.
Yes, well, if I ever come toTownsville, I'll watch from the
bank rather than actually enterthe water.
Julie Box (17:58):
I'm far more afraid of a parasite in my eye.
Danielle Spurling (18:05):
Hey, don't forget our competition running
till the 10th of February.
You can win a pair of Formgoggles, which have smart
goggles which give you instanttech feedback in your goggle
screen as you swim.
To enter, all you need to do isfollow us on Instagram at
torpedo swim talk podcastcomment and tag three friends
(18:26):
under the form Instagram postand leave us an Apple podcast
review Really easy and quick.
The winner will be announced onFebruary, the 11th.
Good luck.
So tell us a little bit aboutthe Australian triple crowns for
people that are listening thatmay not know.
So what makes them up and whereare they situated in Australia?
Julie Box (18:50):
This is one of those things that I just happened to
do accidentally.
So there are three swims Portto Pub, which is a 25 kilometer
swim, over in Perth, which is aRotna swim, but with a twist
Derwent River and Palm toShelley.
Danielle Spurling (19:08):
And what year did you do those three?
Julie Box (19:10):
I know that I finished it two years ago, so it
must have been in the year ortwo preceding that.
Yeah, things kind of escalatedquickly for me.
So I've gone from nothing tolike doing these ridiculous long
swims.
And accidentally, because it'slike my friends wanted to do it
I met this woman, sharon Yell,from Melbourne, and we were
doing Rotnest the first time andshe was amazing.
(19:34):
This girl had dreams.
She decided after doing Rotnestthat she was going to do the
English Channel, she was gonnado the Triple Crown or this or
something.
And they're going wow, this isincredible.
And I kind of got swept alongwith that a little bit.
Yeah, it was fantastic becauseI'd never really met other
(19:54):
people that had these plans,that were kind of like me, so
not necessarily age, what do youcall it?
Lifelong swimmers that had alittle elite background or
whatever.
But these people that just setthese amazing goals and not only
that, like I remember when herand Sue, the morning after
(20:17):
Rotnest, announced at breakfastto the coaches that were there
Peter and Charlie and they said,right, that's it, we wanna do
the English Channel and theywere just like, yeah, right, oh,
let's get on it.
And I just went oh, my gosh, Icame in before they did and they
think that they can do theEnglish Channel.
(20:37):
Like it was just a fantasticthing to meet these people and
yeah, I've got swept away withit a little bit because I just
love their company.
I love that.
The whole community isfantastic.
Danielle Spurling (20:50):
Yeah, it's a lovely community.
Julie Box (20:52):
Or if I'm a tangent, I go.
No, that's fine how did shefirst get involved in swimming
With my kids?
If you want to go all the wayback as a child, I think
somewhere around the seven oreight year old mark my mother
took me to the pool for fivedays in a school holiday, one
hour a day for swimming lessons,and so I learned to swim and
(21:16):
then, apart from that, we didschool swimming, you know, in
primary school.
I don't know if you did it, butwe once a week in term one and
term four we tried to cross fromgrade three to grade eight or
grade seven, tried to cross tothe pool and we would do PE in
the pool.
Later on, you know, it reallywasn't until my kids were
(21:36):
training at a tiny little cluband I wanted to get fit, lose
weight, that sort of a thing,and be part of it that I really
properly started thinking aboutswimming and realizing how much
I enjoyed it.
Danielle Spurling (21:50):
And how long ago was that?
Julie Box (21:52):
So I think I joined them about 2015 in the pool and
then a couple of years later, Isaid to my coach, tony at the
time, like I'd seen I didn'tknow about the Maggie Island
swim, but I'd seen that therewas an advert for a 2K swim
along the strand and I said, doyou think I could do that?
And she's like yeah, so I didit.
(22:14):
Oh my gosh, did I fall in love?
Holy cow, just fantastic, lovedit, loved it.
Things just escalated.
Danielle Spurling (22:23):
Yeah, and took off from there.
What is if someone was comingto Queensland?
What are some of the swims thatyou've done throughout
Queensland that people couldlook up and be attracted to?
Julie Box (22:34):
It's not easy because they don't all run all the time
and I've only really done thelonger ones.
I know down south the GoldCoast runs things like a 10K one
and there's I don't know MalulaBar and places down there, but
I've not done them because it'ssuch a long way to travel for me
, so I tend to spend my budgeton the longer stuff.
Towser, the Townsville OpenWater Swimming Association.
(22:59):
They've run a series of fiveopen water events ranging from
about 1K up to the 8K islandswim.
What else?
Lake Bahrain the masters haveput on a 10K swim up there for a
few years.
That didn't run last year, soI'm hoping that gets up again.
Mackay has a 5K river swim,which is fantastic.
(23:20):
The sinkers down there do agreat job.
That's about oh, there's theGreat Keppel Swim.
So swimming around Great KeppelIsland yep, yeah, how far is
that right around?
That's about 20 kilometers,yeah.
And it's a fantastic swimbecause that is an island off
the coast and, like one of myother favorite swims, everyone's
(23:43):
captive on the island, so it'snot like you can swim and
everyone buggers off home orwhatever you swim, and you can
get together with everybody andhave a drink and a party, and I
love that.
Danielle Spurling (23:56):
Fantastic.
No, yeah, some guys in my squadhave done that Great Keppel
Swim yeah, sounds like a niceone.
Julie Box (24:03):
Look, lake Argyle.
Lake Argyle is similar in thatand it's another one that I love
with such a passion because itis such a party Everyone's
captive.
Out at Lake Argyle we swim, weparty.
Dj Scotty gets on at the night.
I mean, I've had the samesupport people that are locals
over there for the last fouryears and they're supporting me
(24:24):
again this year Fantastic yeah,and so do you have any plans to
do the English Channel?
Yes, I do.
It's taken me a long time.
So, yeah, I think that's on thecards.
I had to find my why.
One of the women that I followedearly on went by Sarah Swims
the Channel, I think, and atsome point this is Sarah
(24:48):
Wobbling is her name.
Oh yes, she's a friend of mine.
Oh yeah, okay.
Well, she posted that she haddecided not to swim it and she
was so close to going over andshe posted that she wasn't gonna
do it.
And it meant such a lot to mebecause I was like there's all
these people that talk aboutthis stuff but like why do it if
(25:11):
it's not what you wanna do?
Why do it?
Just because it's the EnglishChannel?
You know people say it's theEverest.
There is no Everest in swimming.
You know I've had some swims inQueensland that I would rate
one particular as the toughestswim ever.
A bad day anywhere is a bad day.
(25:32):
There are just differentchallenges and different swings.
Anyway, she decided she wasn'tgonna do it.
She's miserable in the cold.
Why put yourself through that?
And I think I don't like itbecause everybody knows it and
so they judge you.
You feel like people arejudging.
Oh well, you haven't done theEnglish Channel, then you're not
as good or whatever.
Danielle Spurling (25:51):
And I'm like yeah, someone just came up with
the idea of the triple crown.
These are the three.
It could be any three, couldn'tit?
Julie Box (25:58):
Yeah, absolutely, absolutely.
The thing is with Australiansthe three we find it and it's
easier for us because these areswims that you can book in, you
pay your money and you're done,whereas a lot of other swims
really are done, people aredoing them locally, with
supports and so on, whereasthese are easier for us to do
(26:19):
because they're organised.
So we tend to do it.
I mean, it's on the cards forme, but I had to find my Y and
it took me years to work thatthrough and I now know what my Y
is.
So do I want to do it, the swimwhatever, but I want to go over
(26:40):
there and I want to meet allthe other swimmers.
I want to meet the people thatfrom the Dover Training Club and
King Swimmers and all of that.
I want to observe other people.
I want to help them out onboats.
So when I go, I'll go for agood month with the idea that
(27:00):
with any luck, my swim gets overand done with first.
Danielle Spurling (27:04):
Yeah, well, that's a pretty good Y.
I like that.
Julie Box (27:06):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I think so, like just get that
bloody swim done.
It's not one that ever hasappealed to me because it's
another channel but it doesn'thave bioluminescence and like
it's just that it is the Englishchannel.
So you know, the biggest thingwith it is just it's
unpredictable.
So I might get a go, I mightnot, whatever.
Danielle Spurling (27:29):
Yeah well, I think that's a good mindset to
have, because a lot of people dogo over there and they're in
the second or third slot andthey don't get to swim.
Yeah well.
Julie Box (27:36):
I've got a first slot because I booked so many years
ago.
I reserved a space and I don'tthink I would like to be like I
cannot afford to back andforward, so if I don't get it
done then I'll move on and dosomething else.
So, yeah, I've got.
I'll be when I go.
It'll be a first slot.
Danielle Spurling (27:55):
Yeah, well, that's good.
That's good that you were sothinking, planning ahead,
thinking ahead, yeah absolutely.
Julie Box (28:02):
But yeah, as far as it like I've already got.
You know I have lots of ideasfor swims that I'd like to do.
You know there's things locallythat might be workable.
I don't know.
There's lots of stuff out there, isn't there?
Danielle Spurling (28:16):
Yeah, oh, yeah.
Well, we're an islandsurrounded by water, so there's
a lot of yeah, yeah, I thinkthere's a lot of different
locations.
Yeah, absolutely.
Just going back to somethingyou said before the Australian
swim.
That was the toughest thatyou'd ever done.
What one was that?
Julie Box (28:32):
Well, I guess there'd be two that I have in my top
two for very different reasons.
One of them was a swim that wassupposed to run as an event,
which was the Gold CoastMarathon.
It was supposed to be a 21Kevent from Coolingata up to
surface and for about threeyears it was delayed because of
(28:56):
COVID, because of weather,because of whatever, and this
time I can't even rememberwhether I was there and it was
COVID or whether it was.
It must have been COVID thatcancelled it.
And we were already there.
So I started out with the routethat they had planned, from
Coolingata going north, and afew of the locals decided the
night before to switch the routeand start from surface and go
(29:19):
back.
But logistically I didn't havethat much ability to change my
plans and you know, anna Strong,she's a fantastic swimmer she
said to me look, it's probablynot gonna make more than an
hour's difference.
And I went okay, those guys setup in the morning and they were
done by seven hours or so, andI set up, you know, at dawn and
(29:45):
started swimming and as soon asI got in I went oh boy, this is
gonna be a long day.
It was rough.
We had a northerly currentcoming straight into me.
We had a northerly wind comingstraight into me.
It took me 18, sorry, it tookme 10 hours and 45 minutes to go
(30:10):
, 18 and a half kilometers toget to Broad Beach and we had to
stop because we had no plansfor dark.
It was on dusk, that surf wasup.
The boat wasn't allowed to comein.
I'm not a surf swimmer Like.
I've always lived in NorthQueensland where we don't have
surf.
It was just getting to thepoint of dangerous.
(30:31):
So I finished that swimabsolutely shattered, because I
had thought eight, nine hours atthe most, absolutely most on a
bad day, and it took me 10, 45and I was still 3K short.
I had bruises, like I actuallyhad bruises on my legs.
Everything was like the it.
(30:53):
Just the power in waves isamazing.
So, yeah, the boat couldn'tcome near me.
So most of you know I didn'thave a kayak, I just had a boat.
It's meters away because it wasjust, yeah, so that was bad,
but fantastic because thatwasn't long before I just I swam
around Magnetic Island andafter finishing that I thought,
(31:17):
mate, I've got it in me to keepgoing.
So so that was really good froma psychological point.
And the other one that wasreally tough was when I did the
Porta Pub 25K.
The jellyfish, oh my God.
I've been stung by jellyfishplenty of times, but the
jellyfish there I just it washorrendous.
(31:40):
It was, you know, 10 hours and20 minutes of agony from start
to go.
I got out.
My goggles were full of tears,my face was swollen everything's
swollen.
For a month after I had likemarks on my arms.
It looked like I'd been cuttingmyself it.
Just that was painful.
Danielle Spurling (32:00):
Yeah, what kind of jellyfish had they got
over?
Julie Box (32:03):
there.
The ones that day were seanettles and the Western
Australian box, which so twodifferent types.
One hit me at the start andburnt all day, and the other one
hit me at the end.
So yeah, not a killer box, butpainful.
Danielle Spurling (32:21):
Yes, yeah, I mean gosh, that's.
It's tough being an open waterswimmer, isn't it?
Julie Box (32:26):
Yeah, but you know, once you've paid your money and
you've got all this stuff puttogether, there's no way you're
gonna stop because of a bloodyjellyfish.
Is there, that's right?
Like pull me out.
No.
Danielle Spurling (32:38):
What's the magnetic island?
Swim like.
Julie Box (32:41):
The one from Maggie to Townsville.
Yeah, yeah, fantastic.
So it's our 70th anniversarythis year.
So, yeah, the swim itselfstarted in 54.
And I think it was one of thoseshowpieces for when the queen
came to visit and it ran incages for many, many years so
(33:03):
you had to be, like you know,picked and competitive to be in
that, so it really attracted theelite.
And then, I don't know whatyear, they stopped doing it 14,
15, 16 years ago they stoppedthe cages and it's been open to
far more people since.
(33:24):
I mean, there's no way I wouldhave gotten into any of this
without having that locally.
Danielle Spurling (33:29):
So, yeah, yeah sounds like a really nice
one.
Julie Box (33:33):
Well, it's, you know, warm water for people that come
up here.
Most of us still think that'spretty cold, like it's, you know
, in between 20 and 22.
At that time of year that'sabout the coldest that we get up
here.
Yeah, it's good, like.
But yeah, like it's okay.
(33:54):
And the thing that I found whenI finished it the first time
was like I finished that 8K andI was just bouncing.
I was like man, I can keepgoing.
Danielle Spurling (34:03):
It sounds yeah Well, you painted a great
picture of open water swimming,so I hope that some people that
are listening that may be sortof teaching on the edge of doing
their first one will beinspired by what you've told us
today.
What sort of what tips wouldyou give someone that's just
about to do their first one?
Julie Box (34:21):
Just relax, stay to the side, stay wide, don't worry
about it.
Let all of those fast peoplethat give a hoot, let them go
first and just do your own thing.
I stay wide of all the boys andstay out of trouble, just don't
worry about it.
And it's some.
The other thing is like I doquite long swims but I remember
(34:46):
doing that first 2K swim.
That was absolutely so faroutside my comfort zone, like I
think you need to reallycelebrate people that are, you
know, stepping up and doingthese things.
When I started the anxiety wasjust massive.
I had no faith in myselfwhatsoever.
(35:06):
I mean, when I started swimmingwith the kids our stinger nets
go about 50 metres out into theocean I was scared to go out to
the back of the stinger nets.
I was not that good of aswimmer.
I'm still pretty mediocre.
Any coach will look at me andgo, oh my God.
But you know, if you relax andjust put the work in, the
(35:32):
biggest thing is just relaxingand going with it.
Don't fight the water, don'tfight the waves, just roll with
it.
We all know how to float.
Put your hand up.
You can always get out.
Try again another day.
Danielle Spurling (35:43):
That's true.
Yes, yeah, I like that advice.
Now, Julie, everyone that comeson the podcast.
I asked them the deep dive five, which is a bit of a snapshot
of your swimming.
So give us your favourite openwater swimming location that
you've ever swum in.
Julie Box (35:57):
This is so hard.
I probably have to sayManhattan, because just it's
stunning, it is absolutelystunning, just yeah, I've never
been to New York to see thatskyline that we've all seen on
movies and TVs.
And here you are, in the riverand all the locals are like what
(36:20):
the hell is somebody doing inthe river?
Yeah, that was pretty amazing.
Danielle Spurling (36:26):
Yeah, that would be.
It would be great seeing thatskyline go past.
How about a bucket list oceanswim that you want to do in the
future?
It doesn't have to be a race oranything.
Julie Box (36:36):
Look, I'd like to do some stuff around Turkey.
Yeah, I met a friend, I made afriend who is Turkish Bengi, who
is on a path to do the OceanSeven, and you know I've seen
some of the locations.
I just think you know I've gota little bit of a hankering to
do that, but I'll swim anyway.
(36:58):
Really, they've all got theirgreat things they do yeah.
Danielle Spurling (37:03):
I'd like to do that data and else swim,
which is yeah.
Yeah, it's probably a bit tooshort for you, but for me 5K is
probably as far as I go.
Yeah, but yeah, that looks likea really great swim.
Yeah, I'll go anywhere.
How about your favouritetraining set?
Julie Box (37:22):
This is really hard.
I like variety.
I was with a coach for a whilethere who taught me how to do
fly and I've started reallyliking that.
So now I really like to have abit of fly in all my things.
The other day when pools wereclosed, I went with a friend to
(37:45):
the raft base and he made me doa set, which was it was eight,
lots of 100, but they were allbroken down into 25s and there
would be three fly and onebreaststroke and just repeat
that eight times, all on 45.
Now I'm a mediocre swimmer atbest, so I was coming in at 30,
(38:10):
leaving on the 45.
And it just makes you huff andpuff and gets the heart rate up.
And I do like to fly in at theend of a marathon.
Swim just deflects a bit.
So watch this.
Wow, it's impressive, yeah.
So I really liked that, butreally any set that's got lots
(38:34):
of variety.
But I also like to just go bymyself sometimes and swim, you
know, three, five K just up anddown, up and down if my head
needs it.
Danielle Spurling (38:43):
Yeah, okay, well good, that's a good answer.
What about the scariest seacreature that you've ever come
across?
Julie Box (38:50):
I've had a little incident with a snake where it
nibbled me.
That was pretty scary.
I've had fish fly into my headand cut me with their bony
little lips.
I don't know.
I get over it pretty quick.
Oh, there was that tiger sharkthat I didn't know I was
swimming with, all right.
(39:12):
So we were at Great KeppelIsland and I was on a boat and
the group had been swimmingbetween two islands and Val had
been had picked me and pinky upbecause the current across was
just too much.
We were like, yeah, let's get alift across.
And as we're going across, inthe distance I could see the
(39:33):
main group and then a stragglerabout 100 meters back and that
was Cookie from Sydney.
Anyway, I couldn't hear whatshe was saying, but I could hear
blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,and I'm all alone.
And I was like, oh, val, stopthe boat, I'll hop out and swim
with her.
So I did, and when I got to hershe was like thank you, I was
(39:53):
here.
This shark was underneath meand it's been following me and
I'm so glad you're here andyou're so brave and I'm like I'm
deaf.
I didn't hear you say shark.
Danielle Spurling (40:06):
Oh.
Julie Box (40:06):
God, yeah.
So that had been following herfor a couple of minutes just
really deep under the water andto the side, and then probably
had moved on with the boat.
So by the time I got there Icouldn't see it, but I just
thought, oh, julie, yes, that'sterrible.
I think it proves a pointthough these things are curious
(40:29):
but not necessarily out to getus, so I'm pretty relaxed about
them.
Danielle Spurling (40:33):
Yes, yeah, I mean, look, there is.
There are shark attacks inAustralia, but there must be
thousands of other times that wego swimming and they're out
there and we don't see them.
Julie Box (40:44):
Absolutely, absolutely.
I had a dolphin go underneathme down the strand last year and
it's so murky that you can'tsee them, but you know the
uplift of water and then I sawthe you know it come out just a
little minute later and I went.
That's what that was, and Iwould never have known that a
big animal was underneath me atall.
(41:06):
Yeah, it's a bit.
It's a bit scary.
Danielle Spurling (41:09):
I had.
We had a pot of dolphinsswimming with us down in the bay
during COVID, because there wasobviously no one out on their
boats at the time, and so therewas a lot more sea creatures, a
lot more wildlife, and that wasamazing.
But we there was a little.
It was a little bit eerie aswell because they came in quite
close and it's just a little bitlike it's fascinating, but it's
(41:32):
also, you know, I was a littlebit wary.
Julie Box (41:36):
Yeah Well, my daughter tells me lots of
dolphin facts, and they're notalways quite as pleasant as we
think they are.
Danielle Spurling (41:43):
I know, my husband tells me those same
facts, and that's, that's why Iwas a bit pathetic.
Yeah, and last question what?
Who's the, the open waterswimmer you most admire, and why
?
Julie Box (41:57):
I, I.
There is no way I could nailone person down and tell you
that I get so much out of peoplethat give it a go, fight their
fears, get in and do it LikeI've been there.
I've done that.
I know what it's like to sortof doubt yourself.
I watch those ones.
(42:19):
I watch the ones that come inright on the end.
I mean I'm, I'm in the back ofthe pack, but I watch the ones
that come in after me and I sortof think, gosh, you know, like
they're the ones that inspire me.
I've met Andy Donaldson andhe's fantastic, but he's an
elite swimmer.
I, I.
The inspiration doesn't comefrom that.
(42:40):
Does that make sense?
Like I think it's fantastic,but for me personally, the
inspiration comes from the backof the packers.
Danielle Spurling (42:48):
Yeah, no, I like that answer.
I always find it reallyinteresting to hear what
motivates people and you knowwho you look up to, so I think
that's a lovely answer yeah,it's just, and it's also.
Julie Box (43:01):
it's not about distance, it's about the roller
coaster of life and and where ittakes you and where it lets you
take them, take you it.
You can sit at home and donothing or you can go on an
adventure, and those adventuresbring a lot of challenges.
But, yeah, I love watchingpeople do these things.
Danielle Spurling (43:21):
Yeah, no that sounds lovely.
Well, julie, thank you so muchfor being a guest on the podcast
today.
It's been lovely hearing aboutyour open water swimming journey
, and I'm sure everyone's goingto be really inspired by what
they heard today.
Well, thank you so much.
Take care.
Julie Box (43:36):
No worries.
Danielle Spurling (43:37):
Amia, thank you.
Julie Box (43:38):
Bye, bye.
Danielle Spurling (43:41):
Thank you, Bob.
I hope you enjoyed hearing fromJulie and gain something from
your own swimming from herinsights Hot off the press.
As I finished editing thisepisode, we found out that Julie
completed an epic swim in theDerwent River in Tassie.
Congrats on another success,Julie.
Until next time, happy swimmingand bye for now.
Hello Swimmers and welcome to another
episode of torpedo swim talkpodcast.
I'm your host, DanielleSpurling, and each week we chat
to a master swimmer from aroundthe world about their swimming
journey.
We love bringing youinteresting swimmer stories and
today's guest is no exception.
(00:25):
Julie Box is a marathon swimmerfrom Townsville in Australia
and among her manyaccomplishments is a completed
Australian triple crown, as wellas completing Catalina and
Manhattan.
Getting the crowns is lovely,but that's not what inspires
Julie.
It is the training journeyalong the way and the wonderful
(00:47):
people she meets in the openwater swimming community that
are her motivation.
As soon as we finished speaking, Julie was jetting off to
another swim in Tasmania'sDerwent River.
Let's hear from Julie now.
Julie is a marathon swimmerfrom Townsville in Australia and
(01:08):
she's completed the Australiantriple crown as well as Catalina
and Manhattan swims.
Hi, julie, welcome and thanksfor joining us on the podcast.
Julie Box (01:18):
No problem, Danielle, I'm very nervous.
This is my first podcast ever.
Danielle Spurling (01:23):
Fantastic, we'll aim to get you not nervous
and you can tell us all aboutyour swimming.
When did you get your last swimin?
Julie Box (01:32):
Yesterday morning I went to a little squad that runs
and I then took a break.
I was supposed to swimyesterday as well, but I was a
little bit sore in the bicep sodecided I wouldn't swim and I'll
go this afternoon.
Danielle Spurling (01:48):
Okay, which pool do you base yourself out?
Of?
Julie Box (01:50):
There's a few in Townsville.
I mostly probably frequentLongtown because I mostly swim
by myself, but I also have swamwith a squad at Cathedral and
they're just currently using anAikenbell pool and I'll go
anywhere.
Danielle Spurling (02:04):
Okay, well, it sounds like a good swimming
scene up there and I knowobviously you're an open water
marathon swimmer and at timesduring the year you probably
can't swim by open water inTownsville.
Julie Box (02:15):
Yeah, yeah, right now it's not a great time for
swimming.
So we live on the coast andthere's a wonderful ocean out
there, but for six months of theyear there's box jellyfish and
ira kanji.
So they put up the Stinger Netsand that's great, but it gives
you like a little 100 metrerectangle that you can swim in
and it's not very pleasant.
(02:37):
I feel like a mermaid in a net,basically.
So the only other option is theriver, and the river is very
warm.
At the moment it's about 32,and there's blue-green algae
warnings and there's a lot ofweed with the heat as well, and
I also am a bit scared ofswimming in the river in the
(02:59):
heat because I got a parasite inmy eye some time ago, probably
from there, and yeah, I don'twant to take that risk again.
Danielle Spurling (03:09):
No, that sounds fair enough.
It must be excruciating livingthat close to such a beautiful
coastline and not being able togo in and swim.
Julie Box (03:17):
Yeah, it's funny, though, because everyone thinks,
oh, tropical North Queensland,beautiful water, and look, it
looks fantastic.
But even in winter when you gofor a swim, it is, you know,
it's algae and mud.
It's still warm.
You come out and you've got amustache from the algae and a
beard.
It just sticks to the littlefacial hairs on women, so it's
(03:39):
not great.
You can't see your fingers infront of your face, whereas if
you get off the coast it'sfantastic.
Danielle Spurling (03:45):
But yeah, right, where I swim, it's not
that great, so obviously youprobably do most of your
training in the pool.
How many times I know you wentyesterday, but how many times do
you generally get there duringthe week?
Julie Box (03:59):
Yeah, well, when I'm earnestly training, which I am
at the moment, it's usually it'sprobably twice a day, most days
, and that's about fitting inaround work and so on.
Like I only have pool accessfrom 5.30 to 7.
Got to be out for work.
You're trying to build aroundwhat's available to you, so you
(04:21):
know, sometimes the squads inthe afternoon take over.
So if I could finish work early, then I'll go and do another
session.
Then I don't know, it's prettyhard to say.
I would probably suggest I do agood 10 sessions in the pool,
but hard to know.
Danielle Spurling (04:36):
Yeah, so what are you getting prepared for
right now?
Julie Box (04:41):
I'm going to Hobart tomorrow and I'm doing a 15k
event on the Dowent River withabout 40 other people and then
I'm if the weather gods are okay, then I'm hoping to do a longer
swim as well.
We'll just have to wait and seehow that pans out.
Danielle Spurling (05:00):
Having that sort of yes or no, you're going
to do it, you're not going to doit, depending on the weather.
So how do you organise asupport crew to be sort of on
standby?
Julie Box (05:08):
Well, this one's easy , and this is the thing with
marathon swimming If you gothrough pilots or whatever on
established things, it's prettyeasy.
You pay the money, you turn upand we go quick and go.
Support wise, my person on theboat will probably be two people
, one of which is a woman namedTara from Western Australia, so
(05:33):
we're camping down theretogether and another guy, myron,
who has been my support personin Catalina and he also went to
New York with me.
He came over for Kepel Island,not for me, he was helping out
the guy that was running at Val,but he will probably be on that
boat as well.
Danielle Spurling (05:51):
So Well, that's good that you've got
someone going with you thatknows a little bit about your
swimming and sort of the waythat you do it, because I know
everyone approaches it slightlydifferently.
Let's have a talk about theManhattan swim, because I know
that was one that you didrecently and it's a big swim, a
huge swim, and there's a lot ofchallenges and highlights along
(06:11):
the way.
Yeah, how did you approach withyour mindset?
How did you approach the actualswim on the day?
Julie Box (06:18):
Look, honestly, there was no problem with the
Manhattan swim.
With my mindset, because thisis the swim that has been the
top of my bucket list foreverSince I heard about it, since I
started sort of exploring thiswhole thing and looking at what
I wanted to do, manhattan wasthe top of my tree.
So, mindset, I was justecstatic.
(06:40):
There was never going to be aproblem there.
I had an absolute ball,unfortunately, like I did one of
the night swims.
So the island of Manhattan westarted in the evening, went
three quarters of the way aroundand there was only one other
swimmer on that night and that'sEd Horn.
He started a similar time to me.
(07:01):
He and I were in the waterhaving a ball.
When we got to the end of theHarlem River and a big storm
came in.
It whipped up the poor oldkayak.
It was just being blasted backI don't know how he was keeping
up or even staying in.
And just before the big GeorgeWashington Bridge there'd been
(07:23):
lightning.
But this lightning struck soclose that my entire body, here,
everything, was standing on end.
It had lit up the waterunderneath me and the crew
pulled us out.
So we were 19 bridges into the20 bridge swim and we were
pulled out and Manhattan soundslike it's completely inhabited,
(07:45):
like a massive city, but up theend where we were, there's
really not a lot.
So it was a quick dash over tothe only place which we could
get to and we sat there and kindof rode out the storm which
actually, ironically, of course,got better immediately after
and then made our way home.
We were basically, you know,the boats did their thing.
(08:09):
We were like, okay, we walk outhere, and it was like walking
into a movie set with thehighway above us and this little
cul-de-sac with broken downcars and fires in those
20-gallon drums and people likedrinking from their paper bags,
and it was hilarious.
So we all went home and Ed wasjust like, oh well, I'll do it
(08:32):
again later.
And I was like, hey, guys, I'vegot to leave in 36 hours, but
if you can give me another go.
And they pulled out all stops.
It was fantastic.
They managed to get me anotherteam set up for that next night.
So we started again the nextevening and did the whole thing
(08:52):
again.
Danielle Spurling (08:53):
Wow, you did it.
You backed up.
I mean, I can't believe thatyou must have been exhausted.
Julie Box (08:59):
Oh yeah, I was.
But I also was like, oh man, Icannot afford to come back here.
You know, flights, all that.
This is not an A, this is avery expensive sport that I've
found myself doing.
I bet and I just thought I wantto.
I want to do the whole thing.
So the difficulties there werethat I drunk most of my feeds
(09:19):
going around the first time.
We weren't sure whether we'regoing or not, so we made these
mad dashes to an Americansupermarket where it just grabs
stuff off the shelves and threwthat in and have that for feeds,
most of which work.
Some came up and fed the fishes, but less and less.
Danielle Spurling (09:38):
Wow, it sounds fantastic.
Is the second one?
You at night time as well, wereyou?
Yes?
Julie Box (09:44):
yes.
Danielle Spurling (09:44):
And how long did it take you to complete the
whole thing?
Julie Box (09:46):
It took me about nine and a half hours, but I'm more
than happy with that.
There's there's a bit of atidal assistance for most of it.
There's also tied against youfor a big chunk the first night.
You know there's an hour and ahalf of basically looking at the
same set of bricks.
I think I worked out my strokeweight was about 10 strokes per
meter for a good while.
(10:07):
So you know it's it's likeevery swim.
It's a long swim, it's achallenging swim.
People say it's easy, but Ithink that's because they've
already weedled out people whenthey go through their
applications.
So they're really gettingpeople that have sort of shown
that they can do a long time inthe water already, whereas most
other swims you know they'lltake anybody that pays,
(10:30):
basically.
Danielle Spurling (10:31):
Right, and talking about nutrition and
hydration during the swim, whatdo you?
What did you do the first time,which was what you actually
wanted to do?
Julie Box (10:42):
Oh, I feed every half an hour.
I'm very basic.
I don't do anything expensive.
Actually I was making up feedstoday.
I pretty much have what's thatthat's sarscorial and I've mixed
in a gel in that just for extraand some baby Pannadol and
(11:02):
ibuprofen.
So that's my three and a halfhour feed.
I've got Powerade.
I do Staminade.
I've got cake that's lemon cakethere.
Every hour and a half I like alittle bit of lemon cake.
Yeah, I'm pretty basic.
I have chocolate milk sometimes.
I just I switch things aroundevery time and get through it.
(11:24):
I'm pretty much been doing itlong enough now that I know that
most things are going to godown.
Okay, just nothing too rich.
The thing that got me was aDairy Queen coffee in Manhattan.
I thought that that would begood for a bit of caffeine cake,
but it was, I don't know, madeon corn syrup or something
disgusting and rich.
Danielle Spurling (11:43):
And does it sound like the right thing to
have you know for next time?
And how many K?
How much sort of K were youputting in your training before
Manhattan each week?
Julie Box (11:51):
I was probably the last few years, so until until
23.
I was for the three yearsbefore that I was probably
averaging about 35 K a week forall sorts of reasons.
Predominantly is I love it, soit's easy to do.
The last year, after I had theparasite in my eye, things sort
(12:14):
of slowed down.
I had a couple of illnesses.
I sort of cut back a bit.
I sort of worked it up againfor Manhattan and then the last
few months I really haven't donemuch at all until this month.
So I was probably only doing 15to 20 a week and now I'm more
like at the 30 for the lastmonth.
Danielle Spurling (12:32):
And when you say you do a lot of training by
yourself, do you write your ownprograms or do you have someone
that oversees that?
Julie Box (12:39):
No, I don't really have anyone that oversees it.
My friend Val, who works out ofRocky, knows that I was really
struggling to work myself hardin the pool when I was by myself
.
So every now and again hethrows me a set and that's
fantastic because they're reallyvaried typesets.
But most of the time I go inand I have to take in the
temperature of the water andwhat else is going on.
(13:00):
So at the moment it's reallyhot, 32, 33 degrees in the water
.
So I'm doing a lot of slowconcentrating drills, that sort
of stuff and very short,intermittent, harder stuff
because it's just physicallyzapping me.
Danielle Spurling (13:17):
Yes, and at the same time it's still 32 or
33 at 530 in the morning.
Julie Box (13:23):
Yeah yeah yeah, yeah, so it depends on the day.
It's been down to 30 on acouple of occasions, but that's
if we've had rain and overcastand whatever.
But even post cyclone I got in,I went 32.
Danielle Spurling (13:36):
Yeah, that's hot, that's really hot.
I know I was suing this morningat our heated outdoor pool that
we have and it was 28, and thatwas boiling Bless.
Oh my God, I'll swap you, itwas really hot.
I found it hot this morning.
Julie Box (13:53):
And that to me just sounds so wonderful, because
even the winter up here there'sa townspeople.
They just don't do cold, sothey heat the pools here to 30
degrees all year round, and thenin summer of course they're not
heating it.
But they just said, the ocean'shot, the river is hot,
(14:13):
everything is hot.
Danielle Spurling (14:15):
Yeah, well, that's the joy of Far North
Queensland.
Julie Box (14:19):
Yeah, makes it interesting when you've gone to
Hobart tomorrow.
Danielle Spurling (14:24):
Yes, yeah, that'll be quite cool,
definitely, and so you'vecompleted both Manhattan and
Catalina.
What's sort of the notabledifferences for you between the
two?
Julie Box (14:36):
Look, every swim is different and how can you even
like my swimming in Catalina isso different to somebody else's
swimming in Catalina?
My swimming in Manhattan?
I managed to support andobserve other swimmers in
Manhattan on boats.
One of them was ChristineCapola, who you interviewed, and
she, like that was fantastic,but every one of those trips
(14:59):
around the island was sodifferent for the swimmer.
Catalina, of course, is at openwater.
I had a really rough night butI loved it, Whereas I've had
other Australians tell me, oh,they hated it, that they got
sick from the stars and thebioluminescence and it was just
all disconcerting, Whereas Iloved every second.
Danielle Spurling (15:23):
That sounds beautiful.
What time of the day did youstart the Catalina swim?
Julie Box (15:28):
About 10 o'clock, 9.30, 10 o'clock at night.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, andthen you'd just swim across.
It's a big long swim.
It was rough as guts.
I loved it.
I think it was about 13 and 1half hours.
And then, once I got to theshore, we couldn't even land
where we wanted to land.
(15:48):
We were being swept up thecoast or down the coast, I don't
know.
I then I just swim out throughthis really rough ocean.
The poor old kayak it was justbeing tossed around.
It took me another 20 minutesto get back to the boat because
they were like being crabbedsideways.
It was just hilarious.
Danielle Spurling (16:11):
Both of those swims you started, or you
started and finished Manhattanin the dark.
How do you prepare for that,because you're doing most of
your swimming in the daytime inthe light.
Julie Box (16:22):
Yeah, that's true.
Look, I don't know.
Number one I'm not scared of it, so it doesn't really make that
much of a difference.
Number two before all of this Ihad many, you know, when COVID
came along and they closed thepools and I was swimming in the
river then and to get to work itwas the middle of the year so
(16:44):
we didn't have much daylight andto get to work after a swim I
had to start in the dark.
So I would often start at 4.30or 5 o'clock in the morning in
pitch black, sometimes withother people, sometimes by
myself, and I would just hop inand swim towards, you know, the
we are, which is a couple of Kdown the track, and I just got
(17:05):
used to it.
Like there's freshwater crocsand stuff in there, there's weed
, there's all that sort of stuff, and doing that at night, I
don't know.
I just got pretty comfortablewith it.
So I didn't think it was goingto be an issue and it wasn't so.
Danielle Spurling (17:21):
Yeah, well, you're very brave, because
there's no way I would get inthe dark and do that.
Fresh, freshwater crocs.
Julie Box (17:29):
Yeah Well, they're only freshies.
So it you know.
What are they going to do?
Only.
Danielle Spurling (17:35):
How big?
How big can they get Freshwatercrocs?
Julie Box (17:38):
Oh they, yeah, the, the weir that I normally swim in
in the mountains, where there'sone in there that is so big and
so fat.
It looks like a salty and it'salways being reported as a salty
, but it's not.
Danielle Spurling (17:50):
That's good to know.
Yes, well, if I ever come toTownsville, I'll watch from the
bank rather than actually enterthe water.
Julie Box (17:58):
I'm far more afraid of a parasite in my eye.
Danielle Spurling (18:05):
Hey, don't forget our competition running
till the 10th of February.
You can win a pair of Formgoggles, which have smart
goggles which give you instanttech feedback in your goggle
screen as you swim.
To enter, all you need to do isfollow us on Instagram at
torpedo swim talk podcastcomment and tag three friends
(18:26):
under the form Instagram postand leave us an Apple podcast
review Really easy and quick.
The winner will be announced onFebruary, the 11th.
Good luck.
So tell us a little bit aboutthe Australian triple crowns for
people that are listening thatmay not know.
So what makes them up and whereare they situated in Australia?
Julie Box (18:50):
This is one of those things that I just happened to
do accidentally.
So there are three swims Portto Pub, which is a 25 kilometer
swim, over in Perth, which is aRotna swim, but with a twist
Derwent River and Palm toShelley.
Danielle Spurling (19:08):
And what year did you do those three?
Julie Box (19:10):
I know that I finished it two years ago, so it
must have been in the year ortwo preceding that.
Yeah, things kind of escalatedquickly for me.
So I've gone from nothing tolike doing these ridiculous long
swims.
And accidentally, because it'slike my friends wanted to do it
I met this woman, sharon Yell,from Melbourne, and we were
doing Rotnest the first time andshe was amazing.
(19:34):
This girl had dreams.
She decided after doing Rotnestthat she was going to do the
English Channel, she was gonnado the Triple Crown or this or
something.
And they're going wow, this isincredible.
And I kind of got swept alongwith that a little bit.
Yeah, it was fantastic becauseI'd never really met other
(19:54):
people that had these plans,that were kind of like me, so
not necessarily age, what do youcall it?
Lifelong swimmers that had alittle elite background or
whatever.
But these people that just setthese amazing goals and not only
that, like I remember when herand Sue, the morning after
(20:17):
Rotnest, announced at breakfastto the coaches that were there
Peter and Charlie and they said,right, that's it, we wanna do
the English Channel and theywere just like, yeah, right, oh,
let's get on it.
And I just went oh, my gosh, Icame in before they did and they
think that they can do theEnglish Channel.
(20:37):
Like it was just a fantasticthing to meet these people and
yeah, I've got swept away withit a little bit because I just
love their company.
I love that.
The whole community isfantastic.
Danielle Spurling (20:50):
Yeah, it's a lovely community.
Julie Box (20:52):
Or if I'm a tangent, I go.
No, that's fine how did shefirst get involved in swimming
With my kids?
If you want to go all the wayback as a child, I think
somewhere around the seven oreight year old mark my mother
took me to the pool for fivedays in a school holiday, one
hour a day for swimming lessons,and so I learned to swim and
(21:16):
then, apart from that, we didschool swimming, you know, in
primary school.
I don't know if you did it, butwe once a week in term one and
term four we tried to cross fromgrade three to grade eight or
grade seven, tried to cross tothe pool and we would do PE in
the pool.
Later on, you know, it reallywasn't until my kids were
(21:36):
training at a tiny little cluband I wanted to get fit, lose
weight, that sort of a thing,and be part of it that I really
properly started thinking aboutswimming and realizing how much
I enjoyed it.
Danielle Spurling (21:50):
And how long ago was that?
Julie Box (21:52):
So I think I joined them about 2015 in the pool and
then a couple of years later, Isaid to my coach, tony at the
time, like I'd seen I didn'tknow about the Maggie Island
swim, but I'd seen that therewas an advert for a 2K swim
along the strand and I said, doyou think I could do that?
And she's like yeah, so I didit.
(22:14):
Oh my gosh, did I fall in love?
Holy cow, just fantastic, lovedit, loved it.
Things just escalated.
Danielle Spurling (22:23):
Yeah, and took off from there.
What is if someone was comingto Queensland?
What are some of the swims thatyou've done throughout
Queensland that people couldlook up and be attracted to?
Julie Box (22:34):
It's not easy because they don't all run all the time
and I've only really done thelonger ones.
I know down south the GoldCoast runs things like a 10K one
and there's I don't know MalulaBar and places down there, but
I've not done them because it'ssuch a long way to travel for me
, so I tend to spend my budgeton the longer stuff.
Towser, the Townsville OpenWater Swimming Association.
(22:59):
They've run a series of fiveopen water events ranging from
about 1K up to the 8K islandswim.
What else?
Lake Bahrain the masters haveput on a 10K swim up there for a
few years.
That didn't run last year, soI'm hoping that gets up again.
Mackay has a 5K river swim,which is fantastic.
(23:20):
The sinkers down there do agreat job.
That's about oh, there's theGreat Keppel Swim.
So swimming around Great KeppelIsland yep, yeah, how far is
that right around?
That's about 20 kilometers,yeah.
And it's a fantastic swimbecause that is an island off
the coast and, like one of myother favorite swims, everyone's
(23:43):
captive on the island, so it'snot like you can swim and
everyone buggers off home orwhatever you swim, and you can
get together with everybody andhave a drink and a party, and I
love that.
Danielle Spurling (23:56):
Fantastic.
No, yeah, some guys in my squadhave done that Great Keppel
Swim yeah, sounds like a niceone.
Julie Box (24:03):
Look, lake Argyle.
Lake Argyle is similar in thatand it's another one that I love
with such a passion because itis such a party Everyone's
captive.
Out at Lake Argyle we swim, weparty.
Dj Scotty gets on at the night.
I mean, I've had the samesupport people that are locals
over there for the last fouryears and they're supporting me
(24:24):
again this year Fantastic yeah,and so do you have any plans to
do the English Channel?
Yes, I do.
It's taken me a long time.
So, yeah, I think that's on thecards.
I had to find my why.
One of the women that I followedearly on went by Sarah Swims
the Channel, I think, and atsome point this is Sarah
(24:48):
Wobbling is her name.
Oh yes, she's a friend of mine.
Oh yeah, okay.
Well, she posted that she haddecided not to swim it and she
was so close to going over andshe posted that she wasn't gonna
do it.
And it meant such a lot to mebecause I was like there's all
these people that talk aboutthis stuff but like why do it if
(25:11):
it's not what you wanna do?
Why do it?
Just because it's the EnglishChannel?
You know people say it's theEverest.
There is no Everest in swimming.
You know I've had some swims inQueensland that I would rate
one particular as the toughestswim ever.
A bad day anywhere is a bad day.
(25:32):
There are just differentchallenges and different swings.
Anyway, she decided she wasn'tgonna do it.
She's miserable in the cold.
Why put yourself through that?
And I think I don't like itbecause everybody knows it and
so they judge you.
You feel like people arejudging.
Oh well, you haven't done theEnglish Channel, then you're not
as good or whatever.
Danielle Spurling (25:51):
And I'm like yeah, someone just came up with
the idea of the triple crown.
These are the three.
It could be any three, couldn'tit?
Julie Box (25:58):
Yeah, absolutely, absolutely.
The thing is with Australiansthe three we find it and it's
easier for us because these areswims that you can book in, you
pay your money and you're done,whereas a lot of other swims
really are done, people aredoing them locally, with
supports and so on, whereasthese are easier for us to do
(26:19):
because they're organised.
So we tend to do it.
I mean, it's on the cards forme, but I had to find my Y and
it took me years to work thatthrough and I now know what my Y
is.
So do I want to do it, the swimwhatever, but I want to go over
(26:40):
there and I want to meet allthe other swimmers.
I want to meet the people thatfrom the Dover Training Club and
King Swimmers and all of that.
I want to observe other people.
I want to help them out onboats.
So when I go, I'll go for agood month with the idea that
(27:00):
with any luck, my swim gets overand done with first.
Danielle Spurling (27:04):
Yeah, well, that's a pretty good Y.
I like that.
Julie Box (27:06):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I think so, like just get that
bloody swim done.
It's not one that ever hasappealed to me because it's
another channel but it doesn'thave bioluminescence and like
it's just that it is the Englishchannel.
So you know, the biggest thingwith it is just it's
unpredictable.
So I might get a go, I mightnot, whatever.
Danielle Spurling (27:29):
Yeah well, I think that's a good mindset to
have, because a lot of people dogo over there and they're in
the second or third slot andthey don't get to swim.
Yeah well.
Julie Box (27:36):
I've got a first slot because I booked so many years
ago.
I reserved a space and I don'tthink I would like to be like I
cannot afford to back andforward, so if I don't get it
done then I'll move on and dosomething else.
So, yeah, I've got.
I'll be when I go.
It'll be a first slot.
Danielle Spurling (27:55):
Yeah, well, that's good.
That's good that you were sothinking, planning ahead,
thinking ahead, yeah absolutely.
Julie Box (28:02):
But yeah, as far as it like I've already got.
You know I have lots of ideasfor swims that I'd like to do.
You know there's things locallythat might be workable.
I don't know.
There's lots of stuff out there, isn't there?
Danielle Spurling (28:16):
Yeah, oh, yeah.
Well, we're an islandsurrounded by water, so there's
a lot of yeah, yeah, I thinkthere's a lot of different
locations.
Yeah, absolutely.
Just going back to somethingyou said before the Australian
swim.
That was the toughest thatyou'd ever done.
What one was that?
Julie Box (28:32):
Well, I guess there'd be two that I have in my top
two for very different reasons.
One of them was a swim that wassupposed to run as an event,
which was the Gold CoastMarathon.
It was supposed to be a 21Kevent from Coolingata up to
surface and for about threeyears it was delayed because of
(28:56):
COVID, because of weather,because of whatever, and this
time I can't even rememberwhether I was there and it was
COVID or whether it was.
It must have been COVID thatcancelled it.
And we were already there.
So I started out with the routethat they had planned, from
Coolingata going north, and afew of the locals decided the
night before to switch the routeand start from surface and go
(29:19):
back.
But logistically I didn't havethat much ability to change my
plans and you know, anna Strong,she's a fantastic swimmer she
said to me look, it's probablynot gonna make more than an
hour's difference.
And I went okay, those guys setup in the morning and they were
done by seven hours or so, andI set up, you know, at dawn and
(29:45):
started swimming and as soon asI got in I went oh boy, this is
gonna be a long day.
It was rough.
We had a northerly currentcoming straight into me.
We had a northerly wind comingstraight into me.
It took me 18, sorry, it tookme 10 hours and 45 minutes to go
(30:10):
, 18 and a half kilometers toget to Broad Beach and we had to
stop because we had no plansfor dark.
It was on dusk, that surf wasup.
The boat wasn't allowed to comein.
I'm not a surf swimmer Like.
I've always lived in NorthQueensland where we don't have
surf.
It was just getting to thepoint of dangerous.
(30:31):
So I finished that swimabsolutely shattered, because I
had thought eight, nine hours atthe most, absolutely most on a
bad day, and it took me 10, 45and I was still 3K short.
I had bruises, like I actuallyhad bruises on my legs.
Everything was like the it.
(30:53):
Just the power in waves isamazing.
So, yeah, the boat couldn'tcome near me.
So most of you know I didn'thave a kayak, I just had a boat.
It's meters away because it wasjust, yeah, so that was bad,
but fantastic because thatwasn't long before I just I swam
around Magnetic Island andafter finishing that I thought,
(31:17):
mate, I've got it in me to keepgoing.
So so that was really good froma psychological point.
And the other one that wasreally tough was when I did the
Porta Pub 25K.
The jellyfish, oh my God.
I've been stung by jellyfishplenty of times, but the
jellyfish there I just it washorrendous.
(31:40):
It was, you know, 10 hours and20 minutes of agony from start
to go.
I got out.
My goggles were full of tears,my face was swollen everything's
swollen.
For a month after I had likemarks on my arms.
It looked like I'd been cuttingmyself it.
Just that was painful.
Danielle Spurling (32:00):
Yeah, what kind of jellyfish had they got
over?
Julie Box (32:03):
there.
The ones that day were seanettles and the Western
Australian box, which so twodifferent types.
One hit me at the start andburnt all day, and the other one
hit me at the end.
So yeah, not a killer box, butpainful.
Danielle Spurling (32:21):
Yes, yeah, I mean gosh, that's.
It's tough being an open waterswimmer, isn't it?
Julie Box (32:26):
Yeah, but you know, once you've paid your money and
you've got all this stuff puttogether, there's no way you're
gonna stop because of a bloodyjellyfish.
Is there, that's right?
Like pull me out.
No.
Danielle Spurling (32:38):
What's the magnetic island?
Swim like.
Julie Box (32:41):
The one from Maggie to Townsville.
Yeah, yeah, fantastic.
So it's our 70th anniversarythis year.
So, yeah, the swim itselfstarted in 54.
And I think it was one of thoseshowpieces for when the queen
came to visit and it ran incages for many, many years so
(33:03):
you had to be, like you know,picked and competitive to be in
that, so it really attracted theelite.
And then, I don't know whatyear, they stopped doing it 14,
15, 16 years ago they stoppedthe cages and it's been open to
far more people since.
(33:24):
I mean, there's no way I wouldhave gotten into any of this
without having that locally.
Danielle Spurling (33:29):
So, yeah, yeah sounds like a really nice
one.
Julie Box (33:33):
Well, it's, you know, warm water for people that come
up here.
Most of us still think that'spretty cold, like it's, you know
, in between 20 and 22.
At that time of year that'sabout the coldest that we get up
here.
Yeah, it's good, like.
But yeah, like it's okay.
(33:54):
And the thing that I found whenI finished it the first time
was like I finished that 8K andI was just bouncing.
I was like man, I can keepgoing.
Danielle Spurling (34:03):
It sounds yeah Well, you painted a great
picture of open water swimming,so I hope that some people that
are listening that may be sortof teaching on the edge of doing
their first one will beinspired by what you've told us
today.
What sort of what tips wouldyou give someone that's just
about to do their first one?
Julie Box (34:21):
Just relax, stay to the side, stay wide, don't worry
about it.
Let all of those fast peoplethat give a hoot, let them go
first and just do your own thing.
I stay wide of all the boys andstay out of trouble, just don't
worry about it.
And it's some.
The other thing is like I doquite long swims but I remember
(34:46):
doing that first 2K swim.
That was absolutely so faroutside my comfort zone, like I
think you need to reallycelebrate people that are, you
know, stepping up and doingthese things.
When I started the anxiety wasjust massive.
I had no faith in myselfwhatsoever.
(35:06):
I mean, when I started swimmingwith the kids our stinger nets
go about 50 metres out into theocean I was scared to go out to
the back of the stinger nets.
I was not that good of aswimmer.
I'm still pretty mediocre.
Any coach will look at me andgo, oh my God.
But you know, if you relax andjust put the work in, the
(35:32):
biggest thing is just relaxingand going with it.
Don't fight the water, don'tfight the waves, just roll with
it.
We all know how to float.
Put your hand up.
You can always get out.
Try again another day.
Danielle Spurling (35:43):
That's true.
Yes, yeah, I like that advice.
Now, Julie, everyone that comeson the podcast.
I asked them the deep dive five, which is a bit of a snapshot
of your swimming.
So give us your favourite openwater swimming location that
you've ever swum in.
Julie Box (35:57):
This is so hard.
I probably have to sayManhattan, because just it's
stunning, it is absolutelystunning, just yeah, I've never
been to New York to see thatskyline that we've all seen on
movies and TVs.
And here you are, in the riverand all the locals are like what
(36:20):
the hell is somebody doing inthe river?
Yeah, that was pretty amazing.
Danielle Spurling (36:26):
Yeah, that would be.
It would be great seeing thatskyline go past.
How about a bucket list oceanswim that you want to do in the
future?
It doesn't have to be a race oranything.
Julie Box (36:36):
Look, I'd like to do some stuff around Turkey.
Yeah, I met a friend, I made afriend who is Turkish Bengi, who
is on a path to do the OceanSeven, and you know I've seen
some of the locations.
I just think you know I've gota little bit of a hankering to
do that, but I'll swim anyway.
(36:58):
Really, they've all got theirgreat things they do yeah.
Danielle Spurling (37:03):
I'd like to do that data and else swim,
which is yeah.
Yeah, it's probably a bit tooshort for you, but for me 5K is
probably as far as I go.
Yeah, but yeah, that looks likea really great swim.
Yeah, I'll go anywhere.
How about your favouritetraining set?
Julie Box (37:22):
This is really hard.
I like variety.
I was with a coach for a whilethere who taught me how to do
fly and I've started reallyliking that.
So now I really like to have abit of fly in all my things.
The other day when pools wereclosed, I went with a friend to
(37:45):
the raft base and he made me doa set, which was it was eight,
lots of 100, but they were allbroken down into 25s and there
would be three fly and onebreaststroke and just repeat
that eight times, all on 45.
Now I'm a mediocre swimmer atbest, so I was coming in at 30,
(38:10):
leaving on the 45.
And it just makes you huff andpuff and gets the heart rate up.
And I do like to fly in at theend of a marathon.
Swim just deflects a bit.
So watch this.
Wow, it's impressive, yeah.
So I really liked that, butreally any set that's got lots
(38:34):
of variety.
But I also like to just go bymyself sometimes and swim, you
know, three, five K just up anddown, up and down if my head
needs it.
Danielle Spurling (38:43):
Yeah, okay, well good, that's a good answer.
What about the scariest seacreature that you've ever come
across?
Julie Box (38:50):
I've had a little incident with a snake where it
nibbled me.
That was pretty scary.
I've had fish fly into my headand cut me with their bony
little lips.
I don't know.
I get over it pretty quick.
Oh, there was that tiger sharkthat I didn't know I was
swimming with, all right.
(39:12):
So we were at Great KeppelIsland and I was on a boat and
the group had been swimmingbetween two islands and Val had
been had picked me and pinky upbecause the current across was
just too much.
We were like, yeah, let's get alift across.
And as we're going across, inthe distance I could see the
(39:33):
main group and then a stragglerabout 100 meters back and that
was Cookie from Sydney.
Anyway, I couldn't hear whatshe was saying, but I could hear
blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,and I'm all alone.
And I was like, oh, val, stopthe boat, I'll hop out and swim
with her.
So I did, and when I got to hershe was like thank you, I was
(39:53):
here.
This shark was underneath meand it's been following me and
I'm so glad you're here andyou're so brave and I'm like I'm
deaf.
I didn't hear you say shark.
Danielle Spurling (40:06):
Oh.
Julie Box (40:06):
God, yeah.
So that had been following herfor a couple of minutes just
really deep under the water andto the side, and then probably
had moved on with the boat.
So by the time I got there Icouldn't see it, but I just
thought, oh, julie, yes, that'sterrible.
I think it proves a pointthough these things are curious
(40:29):
but not necessarily out to getus, so I'm pretty relaxed about
them.
Danielle Spurling (40:33):
Yes, yeah, I mean, look, there is.
There are shark attacks inAustralia, but there must be
thousands of other times that wego swimming and they're out
there and we don't see them.
Julie Box (40:44):
Absolutely, absolutely.
I had a dolphin go underneathme down the strand last year and
it's so murky that you can'tsee them, but you know the
uplift of water and then I sawthe you know it come out just a
little minute later and I went.
That's what that was, and Iwould never have known that a
big animal was underneath me atall.
(41:06):
Yeah, it's a bit.
It's a bit scary.
Danielle Spurling (41:09):
I had.
We had a pot of dolphinsswimming with us down in the bay
during COVID, because there wasobviously no one out on their
boats at the time, and so therewas a lot more sea creatures, a
lot more wildlife, and that wasamazing.
But we there was a little.
It was a little bit eerie aswell because they came in quite
close and it's just a little bitlike it's fascinating, but it's
(41:32):
also, you know, I was a littlebit wary.
Julie Box (41:36):
Yeah Well, my daughter tells me lots of
dolphin facts, and they're notalways quite as pleasant as we
think they are.
Danielle Spurling (41:43):
I know, my husband tells me those same
facts, and that's, that's why Iwas a bit pathetic.
Yeah, and last question what?
Who's the, the open waterswimmer you most admire, and why
?
Julie Box (41:57):
I, I.
There is no way I could nailone person down and tell you
that I get so much out of peoplethat give it a go, fight their
fears, get in and do it LikeI've been there.
I've done that.
I know what it's like to sortof doubt yourself.
I watch those ones.
(42:19):
I watch the ones that come inright on the end.
I mean I'm, I'm in the back ofthe pack, but I watch the ones
that come in after me and I sortof think, gosh, you know, like
they're the ones that inspire me.
I've met Andy Donaldson andhe's fantastic, but he's an
elite swimmer.
I, I.
The inspiration doesn't comefrom that.
(42:40):
Does that make sense?
Like I think it's fantastic,but for me personally, the
inspiration comes from the backof the packers.
Danielle Spurling (42:48):
Yeah, no, I like that answer.
I always find it reallyinteresting to hear what
motivates people and you knowwho you look up to, so I think
that's a lovely answer yeah,it's just, and it's also.
Julie Box (43:01):
it's not about distance, it's about the roller
coaster of life and and where ittakes you and where it lets you
take them, take you it.
You can sit at home and donothing or you can go on an
adventure, and those adventuresbring a lot of challenges.
But, yeah, I love watchingpeople do these things.
Danielle Spurling (43:21):
Yeah, no that sounds lovely.
Well, julie, thank you so muchfor being a guest on the podcast
today.
It's been lovely hearing aboutyour open water swimming journey
, and I'm sure everyone's goingto be really inspired by what
they heard today.
Well, thank you so much.
Take care.
Julie Box (43:36):
No worries.
Danielle Spurling (43:37):
Amia, thank you.
Julie Box (43:38):
Bye, bye.
Danielle Spurling (43:41):
Thank you, Bob.
I hope you enjoyed hearing fromJulie and gain something from
your own swimming from herinsights Hot off the press.
As I finished editing thisepisode, we found out that Julie
completed an epic swim in theDerwent River in Tassie.
Congrats on another success,Julie.
Until next time, happy swimmingand bye for now.
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