Some exhausted boys come out of the surf on the first day of the 2012 ANZAC Boot Camp. See Swannies' web album for more photos.

Tired, stiff, sore – and satisfied – are how the Swannies in Saigon and Vung Tau are feeling after the ANZAC Boot Camp in Vung Tau this weekend.

Day 1, Saturday, started with some push ups, sit ups, lunges and a few other things on the beach before we tackled the 1,000 steps up to the statue of Mary. Back down the stairs for a 7.6km run to Jesus where we faced another 900 stairs.

After a magnificent lunch at Timmay’s and Asha’s pad, we then took on the Beach Olympics in the soft sand. Just perfect for those of us recovering with very tired muscles from the morning session. Last exercise of the day was to send the exhausted Swannies into the surf…

In the evening, it was off to the Worldwide Arms Museum – new sponsor of the Swannies which also has Tommy’s Armoury on the rooftop – for dinner. Amazing venue. There, it was announced that the rooftop will be the venue for the Official After Match Function for the ANZAC Friendship Match on 21 April 2012. More to follow.

Day 1. The Swannies climb mountains to reach Mary.

This morning, we did the Beep Test session – won by Dave O’Shea. Then it was back to the beach for another session of sit up, lunges etc with bags of sand. Ouch! Then the fines session at Tommy’s Bar and Restaurant.

Special thanks to our excellent facilitator, Matt Natalotto; Timmay and Asha for housing so many of the Swannies; Meg and Sam Stevens for sorting out a lot of the logistics; Shag foe being the fines master and Kev Hornblower for dreaming up the idea at the Swannies’ best & fairest last year. Also, Bob Taylor from the Worldwide Arms Museum (who was an apology on the night) and Glenn & Trang Nolan from Tommy’s Bar for their superb hospitality.

It was a mega weekend which is now locked into the Swannies’ Calendar as an annual event.

Plenty of tired and exhausted bodies in Vung Tau and Saigon tonight… More to follow.

Participants

Ross Munn, Damo Judd, Sam Conroy, Kev Hornblower, Bill Crang, Alex Polson, Shannon Leahy, Paul Koch, Phil Johns, Dave O’Shea, Tim Clements & Asha Phillips, John MacFarlane, Luke Creamer, Ryan Evans, Matt Natalotto, Richard Quinn, Meg & Sam Stevens.

Photos

More photos can be seen by clicking onto the Swannies’ Web Album.

Matt Natalotto’s Website

To see some photos and a short video on our facilitator’s website, click here.