The Deniliquin High School physical education teacher was preparing for the 20 Bridges Swim that circumnavigates the island of Manhattan through the East River, Harlem River and Hudson River in
New York before the swim was cancelled due to the Coronavirus pandemic.
The 45.9km (28.5 miles) swim, which was to be held in June, was the final step for Norman to earn the Triple Crown, after previously completing the English Channel and Catalina Channel swims in 2018 and 2019 respectively.
‘‘Everything has changed recently. Three weeks ago everything was still in the equation and just like that everything was put off,’’ Norman said.
‘‘March was going to be my big training month with the Mentone Marathon, New Zealand Chopper Challenge and Sydney Palm2Shelly swims.
‘‘One by one they were all called off within the space of four days.
‘‘It’s tough to even get a position to swim in the 20 Bridges event and I honestly don’t know when I will get another opportunity to attempt it.
‘‘I feel like my predicament is the same as anyone else right now though.
‘‘Everyone has been training for something to achieve their goals and suddenly the goals have just gone.
‘‘But doesn’t mean we have to stop. I know it is difficult to cope with the extreme changes of not only the physical side but the social impact this pandemic has caused but that makes things like exercise and getting fresh air more important.’’
While Norman was devastated with the news, she quickly devised a new plan to continue her training.
She took to the Edward River for a 41km swim from Four Post to Stevens Weir on Saturday morning, completing the gruelling test in an outstanding time of 10 hours and 32 minutes.
‘‘Originally I had planned to do the swim with my training partner Richard Jones but Richard was unable to come for the swim due to the tighter restrictions around Coronavirus,’’ she said.
‘‘I decided to just make the best out of the situation and tackle the swim along with my paddler Sam North.
‘‘It was an amazing swim on the weekend. I left Four Post about 7am and the river was pretty quiet.
‘‘I wasn’t planning on having my long swim this early but the most important thing to me was to keep active.
‘‘I hope this swim brings joy and gives inspiration to others to be creative and that just because a goal is taken away, it doesn’t mean you can’t keep training.’’
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