MANDURAH Swimming Club has paid tribute to long time member Ken Phillips who passed away on October 9.
Members and friends assembled to make their farewells at Doddi’s Beach before linking arms and scattering petals on the water, followed by a swim to the reef and back.
Mr Phillips was a highly respected member of the WA swimming community.
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READ NOWHe served 14 years on the committee in a range of positions and also created and maintained the club website.
He was both a pool and open water swimmer with his introduction to open water swimming as a member of a team relay of the Rottnest Channel in 1999 and 2001.
Mr Phillips completed more than 150 swims, keeping all the caps that were issued and undertook the English Channel Relay in 2012 with four other club members.
He competed in the National Master Championships in Perth in 2001, Adelaide 2004, Darwin 2007, the Alice Springs Masters 2010, the World Masters Championships in Perth 2008 and the National Short Course Championships in Brazil in 2008.
Mr Phillips became a referee in 2010 and was the Masters Swimming WA 2011 Official of the Year.
For services to the club, he was awarded the Kathy McLeod Award for Best Club Person in 2003 and elected a life member in 2014.
In 2015, he was named Masters Swimming Australia Official of the Year and selected as a technical official for the Fina World Masters Swimming Championships in Kazan, Russia.
He was also awarded inaugural City of Mandurah Male Club Person of the Year.
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