1996-2000

The annual event (1996-2000)

Past Australian open water swimming champion, Grant Robinson, set the men's mark at 4:08:20 in 1997 which was beaten by Mark Saliba, with a time of 4:00:15 in 2000.

With its growth in popularity the Rottnest Channel Swim became the world's largest open water swimming event in 1998 attracting 1,150 competitors. There are swims with larger numbers of participants but these are conducted in closed waters of bays, lakes and rivers, not through an open ocean channel. The history books were again rewritten in 2001 with participation levels of 2,022.

Personalised number plates were introduced in 2000 and available to solo swimmers who have made a successful crossing of the Rottnest Channel. The RCSA issues a number to each swimmer who completes a solo swim to Rottnest - this number represents the number of solo swimmers to Rottnest and not the number of solo crossings. For more information, see 'Historical Crossings'.