1983 - 2004

The Cole Classic is an open-water swimming event which was conceived by Graham Cole in the 1980s as a community-based event. Its purpose was to raise funds for the North Bondi Surf Life Saving Club (NBSLSC).

Late founder Graham Cole was a keen ocean swimmer who regularly swam and body surfed at Bondi Beach. In 1981, he travelled to Hawaii with a team from the Tattersalls Club taking part in the Waikiki Roughwater Swim. He returned with a desire to establish a similar event in Sydney, believing that Australian beaches and strong beach culture deserved a similar event. Cole envisaged this event “not as a race but a challenge to all persons to stretch themselves in body and mind to swim a reasonable distance through surf”.

The inaugural Cole Classic took place at Bondi Beach in 1983, with just 101 swimmers. Since then, it has grown into a high-profile event on Sydney’s ocean swimming calendar, attracting thousands of participants in the annual 2km swim. It ran for 22 years as a collaboration between NBSLC and the Cole Classic organisers. In the mid-2000s, both parties could not agree on the financial terms and their negotiations broke down. As a result, Cole Classic relocated to Manly Life Saving Club where, as a young man, Graham Cole patrolled and was awarded his bronze surf-lifesaving medallion. A new event; the North Bondi Classic now takes place on the second Sunday in February with a 1km and 2km course.

Images courtesy the Waverley Library Local Studies Collection.