The Port to Pub swim celebrates its 10th anniversary on Saturday, 21 March 2026, with weather conditions cooperating for what has become one of Western Australia's defining sporting events. The crossing from Leighton Beach in North Fremantle to the shores of Rottnest Island represents both an athletic challenge and a celebration of community that has quietly become something special.
Founded by Ceinwen Roberts in 2016, the event emerged from a personal passion into something larger. The inaugural Port to Pub offered two distances; the 19.7km course started at Leighton Beach with a direct route to Rottnest, while the 25km ultramarathon included a 5km loop before joining the direct course. In that first year, 24 swimmers attempted the 19.7km solo course, 12 solo swimmers tackled the 25km distance, and 616 additional swimmers participated as members of duos and teams.
The growth has been substantial. In the decade since its first event, the Port to Pub team has grown into an event that proudly hosts up to 1,700 swimmers while keeping its community-focused roots and core values. This isn't a small achievement for a volunteer-driven organisation managing a complex ocean crossing event.
What makes Port to Pub distinctive is its inclusive approach to participation. Rather than cater solely to elite athletes, the event operates across multiple categories: solo swimmers tackling the full distance alone; duos sharing the effort; and team structures ranging from three to ten swimmers. The Teams of 3 category was introduced in 2026, created after seeing considerable interest in something that would "bridge the gap" between swimming as a duo and as a member of a larger team, offering more swim time than larger team members but allowing conversation between teammates.
The underlying appeal is straightforward. Open water swimming demands a particular kind of commitment and courage. The swim starts from Leighton Beach in front of Fremantle Surf Lifesaving Club and finishes at the shores of Rottnest Island. The 19.7km distance is significant; the 25km ultramarathon is one of the longest open water swims in the Southern Hemisphere. Yet swimmers return year after year, and new participants continue to join.
The event carries genuine institutional support. It won the bronze medal for "Event of the Year" from the World Open Water Swimming Association. Mader Group became the event's naming rights sponsor in 2026, with the fresh name Mader Port to Pub with Hotel Rottnest coming just in time to celebrate the first ten years and to kick off the next decade.
The logistics are substantial. Each swimmer requires a support boat and skipper, which demands coordination and volunteer effort. The event manages safety across two distances, multiple team configurations, and participants ranging from teenagers to people in their seventies. The operational complexity is easy to underestimate.
From Roberts' perspective, the milestone appears to bring mixed feelings. According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the Port to Pub founder says she gets jealous of those about to take on the annual swim. That sentiment reveals something genuine about the event: it generates a real sense of occasion and shared achievement that extends beyond the participants themselves.
The challenge moving forward will be maintaining the event's character as it continues to grow. Growth brings opportunity but also pressure. Larger participant numbers require more sophisticated logistics and safety systems. Sponsorship brings resources but introduces new stakeholders. The history of grassroots sporting events suggests that the moment they become too polished, too professional, they often lose the thing that made them special.
The Port to Pub has clearly found something that works. Whether it can sustain that magic for another decade will depend on whether the people running it remain focused on the swimmers and the experience, not simply the scale. So far, the evidence suggests they have.