Tom’s Speech:

‘Some of you may be asking- ‘who is this guy’? Well to be honest- I am the backup plan! When more recognisable sports people could not make it, I received the call.

In all seriousness- my name is Thomas Pembroke and I am marathon swimmer.

Tom swimming at Dumaresq Dam

When I started to plan my speech I set myself the following ground rules:

1. I was not to speak for too long
2. No clichés allowed
3. Everyone should have a good time

So, I promise my speech will be brief, original and by the way- thanks for the free beers!

You may be wondering why I became interested in ocean swimming. Sometimes, I ask myself the same thing as:

• It is not glamorous,
• It is very expensive,
• I have to get fat,
• I get sick,
• I get stung,
• I get burnt,
• I get bored and lonely
• It is cold
• I swim with things which can eat me

So why do I do it?   Well- let me explain:

When I was in my final year of school in 2006, I was fully immersed in the ‘it’s all about me’ stage. During this time, everything in my life was the most important thing in the world- really very little else mattered! When I was in my last year of school my whole world revolved around the HSC, my footy team and of course my cute girlfriend! After achieving a high UAI at school I was selected to represent NSW in Rugby. I thought I was the man!

Fast forward three years- I was flunking uni, I was unfit as I wasn’t playing any sport, and my cute girlfriend dumped me- yep the trifecta! I was still in the ‘all about me’ stage- but now I felt like I was losing at life. So much so, that in my darkest hours I even thought about taking my own life!

One day during this period, I was at home eating McDonalds and hung over after a big night, when my dad came in and said: ‘Hey did you hear about the young guy from Melbourne who just swum the English Channel.’ As I was still in my ‘all about me’ stage I instantly thought- well I could do that!

I was now on a mission- I went to google and found out how I could sign up to swim the English Channel myself. I used my last $2,000 as a deposit to organise a captain for the boat which I would need to accompany me.

This was the middle of 2012. Luckily, I received just enough conceded passes to get my high school teaching degree. I moved to the UK so I could work as a teacher and start my training. Once I arrived in Southampton, I undertook minimal training, but I did have lots of cold showers and I made sure I ate a lot!

Then it came to the day of my swim. I arrived at 2am and was asked by the boat captain the following:

• Do you have your passport?
• Do you have swimming lights?
• Do you have food?
• Do you have a coach?
• Have you done a 6 hour practice swim?

Sadly all these questions were answered with ‘no’!

Tom after one of his long and cold swims

Anyway, even though I was clearly underprepared, I embarked on the swim that literally almost killed me. The first few hours were OK, but then I became sick, tired and 10 hours into the swim I was stung! Notwithstanding this, I made it and even managed to raise some money for SIDS!

Since then, I have got over the ‘it’s all about me’ stage and have realised just how lucky I am! I have a strange gift where I can swim for long periods of time in awful conditions, whilst also raising money for causes I am passionate about!

In my last swim, I raised more than $30,000 for Sara Lynch who is a local cancer survivor. Sara is someone who is truly heroic. She has battled leukaemia for the past two years. She has been in the operating theatre 16 times, and had countless lumbar punctures as well as having to undergo debilitating chemotherapy! Sara also lost all her hair in the process and, due to one of the drugs she was taking, her weight doubled!

So the answer to my original question on why I undertake these swims is- for people like Sara, who are life’s true heroes!

Tom with Sara Lynch and Dr Jack Hobbs from Earle Page College

Thank you for allowing me to share my story! Remember life is not just about you and it is not what you do in life which has the biggest impact- it is the way you make people feel! ‘