Ross Youngman

Ross Youngman, Derwent River Big Swim record-setter

Ross Youngman, born 1961, is an Australian open water swimmer from Sydney who was born and raised in Launceston, Tasmania. He has achieved both the Australian Triple Crown of Marathon Swimming and the World Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming.

Sporting & Swimming Background

• As a child, he trained with fireman, Vic Chugg's swimming squad at the Launceston Windmill Hill Baths, and was a member of the South Esk Swimming Club.
• For high school he attended the Launceston Church Grammar School where he captained the swim team in his final year.
• He worked as a lifeguard at both the Windmill Hill Baths and the Glenorchy Pool in Hobart, while studying for a Bachelor of Commerce at the University of Tasmania.
• He played Australian Rules football in Tasmania for East Launceston and Sandy Bay Football Clubs and represented Tasmania on a number of occasions.
• He was a member of the Low Head Surf Club in Tasmania and the Bronte Surf Club in Sydney.
• He received a Masters of Business Administration from Columbia University in 1991 and worked in New York until 2002, before returning to Sydney, where he works at Ausbil Investment Management, who sponsor the Palm Beach to Shelley Beach Marathon Swim.
• He is currently studying for a Masters of Science in Coaching Psychology at the University of Sydney.
• He swims with the Vladswim Squad under Vlad Mravec and Jai Di Tommaso.

Open Water Swimming Highlights

• In August 2013 he was a member of Team MadFish, with Jeannie Baxter-Reid and Tom O'Byrne, that swam across the 33.5 km English Channel in 11 hours 15 minutes, raising over A$60,000 for the Australian Indigenous Education Foundation.
• In 2014 and 2021, he completed the May 10km South Head Roughwater from Bondi Beach in Australia.
• He has completed the December 10km Vladswim Challenge Swim three times in 2019, 2021 and 2022.
• He completed the 2020 Rottnest Channel Swim in Western Australia.
• He set a time of 9 hours 10 minutes 25 seconds for the 34 km Derwent River Big Swim in Tasmania, Australia on 13 December 2020. He set the record for the fastest male, the oldest person, and the earliest of the season to complete the swim. He was the first Tasmanian to complete the swim. The average water temperature was 15.6°C.
• On 20 March 2021, he completed the 25 km Port to Pub Ultra Marathon in Western Australia in 10 hours 48 minutes.
• On 17 April 2021, he completed the 24 km Palm Beach to Shelley Beach Marathon Swim in 7 hours 52 minutes to achieve the Australian Triple Crown of Marathon Swimming.
• On 28 November 2021 and 27th November 2022 he swam the 10km Sri Chinmoy National Capital Swim in Lake Burleigh Griffin, Canberra coming first in the male 60-69 years category on both occasions.
• On Dec 4 2021 he swam Lake Jindabyne with Katya Noble and Andrew Keay completing 11kms from Kalkite to Jindabyne.
• On 5 March 2022 he became the first person to swim the 26 km length of the Great Lake in the highlands of Tasmania in 10 hours 22 minutes and 5 seconds accompanied by Marcus and Heidi Archer, Richard Fazackerley, Jock Gibson, Rod Watkins and Andrew Keay.
• On 2-3 June 2022, he crossed the Catalina Channel from Santa Catalina Island to the Southern California mainland in 13 hours 11 minutes 13 seconds under the auspices of the Catalina Channel Swimming Federation.
• On 29 July 2022 he completed a 33.5 km crossing of the English Channel from England to France in 14 hours 56 minutes and raised over A$165,000 for the Australian Indigenous Education Foundation.
• On September 12 2022 at age 61, he completed the 45.9 km 20 Bridges Manhattan Island Swim in 8 hours 2 minutes, thereby achieving the Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming in a turnaround of 102 days. At the time he was the oldest Australian to do so and the equal sixth oldest person outright.
• On the 4th February he completed the inaugural 15 kilometre Swim Cliff to Bridge in Tasmania in a tandem with Dean Summers in the time of 3 hours 42 minutes.

Piloting/Swim Observer

He regularly assists his brother Mark Youngman in piloting swimmers undertaking the 34 km Derwent River Big Swim in Tasmania, using Mark's boat the Des Renford, a 4.35m Stressl Angler.

External links

• Aussies Down Under Head To The Northern Hemisphere
• Ross swims the English Channel for the Australian Indigenous Education Foundation
• Open Water Swimming
• Felicity Harrison Achieved the Australian Triple Crown of Marathon Swimming
• Australian Marathon Swimming Hall of Famers Achieve Australian Triple Crown
• Luke Richards Completes The Australian Triple Crown
• Ross Youngman Completes The Australian Triple Crown
• All-time Historical Big Swims Down Derwent River
• Brenda Norman, Emma Radford Are 1-2 Down The Derwent River
• Ross Youngman Lives Up To His Name, Sets Derwent River Big Swim Record
• Team MadFish
• MSF 34km Derwent River Swim Video - Ross Youngman
• 60 year old Sydney man Ross Youngman swims 26km across Tasmania's Great Lake