James Ritchie's Tour to Turkey
 On the 17th August 2010 James Ritchie, a Year 10 student of the Scotts College and a swimmer of Cranbrook Eastern Edge, along with Australian Olympian Mr. Murray Rose who regularly trains at CEE departed on The Australian and New Zealand Surf Clubs Tour of Turkey.
A contingent of around fifty members from various Surf Clubs from both countries took part in numerous events throughout the tour. Included were a number of Demonstration Surf Carnivals, which had been designed to educate the local adults and school children of Istanbul, Eceabat and Canakkale about the skills and benefits of surf life saving.
In addition, the Group will attend ANZAC Cove on the Gallipoli Peninsula. Here, they held the first ever ANZAC Surf Club Memorial Service at the burial site of an early Surf Club member.
At this service, a surf boat depicted the landing boats that came ashore 95 years ago.
James, as a solo piper, played the lament and Oliver, on the Bugle, played the Last Post. It is a great honour for both of these young men to represent The Scots College and participate in this most solemn event.
2010 also marks the 200th year since Lord Byron, the English Poet, became the first known person to swim across the Hellespont, otherwise known as the Dardanelle Strait, from Europe to Asia.
Situated in Turkey, the Dardanelle Strait is undoubtedly one of the most significant open water swims in the world.
This traditional swim race took place annually on the 30th August, the day that commemorated the final victory for the Turks in the Turkish War of Independence in 1922 against the Greeks. Held for the last 25 years, this event draws swimmers from around Turkey and from overseas.
The Turkish Authorities close the Straits to all boat traffic (except safety boats) during the swim, allowing this historic event to take place. The 4.5km swim starts on the European shore at Eceabat and swimmers will head to the town of Çanakkale on the Asian side.
Australian Olympians Ian Thorpe and Craig Stevens, and a team lead by another Olympian, Murray Rose, joined the limited number of swimmers who competed in this event.
James also took part in the 2010 Dardanelles Swim in what was described by many as the worst conditions in the 24 year history of the race. This was James's first open water swim and it appeared it was going to be a baptism of fire. There was a 25 knot + wind from the north east and up to a meter of wind chop and 4 knots of current through the centre of the strait which forced many swimmers past the finish ramp and required rescuing. About 20% of swimmers did not finish the race. James came out of the water in 7th place overall in a time of 47min and 42 sec. He came 3rd in his age group of (14-18 yr old) and picked up the Bronze medal.
The Turkish boy (17yo) who won had swum the race many times before and the second place went to a 16-17 yr old Australian.
Murray Rose showed he is still a wonderful swimmer and he won Gold in his category of 71 and Older. This was Murray's first time to Turkey and also his first swim of the Dardannels.
He said it was the longest and one of the hardest open water swims in which he had competed.
James dedicated his swim to the Tamarama Surf Life Club and its members, who had kindly invited him to join this event. All the proceeds will be donated to the Tamarama Surf Life Saving Club.
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Photos by David Ritchie
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"...at CEE we develop quality athletes both in and out of the pool"
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Senior swimmers, parents and coaches all got together on Friday, September 6 to farewell Sam and Steve and wish them good luck. It was a huge success, thanks to 
