Community & Business
16 July, 2026
Peta Completed 20 Bridges Swim in New York
Peta Bradley, Armatree local, farmer, and open cold water swimmer, recently completed the 48.5km 20 Bridges Swim in New York in just under eight hours.
The 20 Bridges Swim was first swum in 1915,and is part of the Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming which also includes the English Channel and the Catalina Channel in California.
The marathon swim is typically completed anti-clockwise and winds through three ‘rivers’ (in actuality, they are all either estuaries or tidal straits), the East River, the Harlem River, and the Hudson River.
Peta has been open cold and ice water swimming since COVID-19, falling in love with the sport accidentally.
Over time, she became more and more competitive, eventually going on to compete in the 2025 World Ice Swimming Championships hosted in Italy last summer where her training paid off, bringing home a gold and two silver medals.
After returning home to the farm in Armatree, Peta kept up her training but an unexpected injury forced her to slow down and land in a lull. Which was when her friend suggested that she challenge herself by entering into another event.
“In about June last year, I got injured and I kind of hit a low point, I was upset that I was missing my training or wasn't training the way I was (previously), but I didn't really know why I was upset by that, because I didn't actually have anything on the horizon,” Peta said.
“And I was talking to a good mate and he said to me, Peta, I think it's time you did a swim and I think you need to do a big one.
“The Manhattan swim was one that had been sitting in the back of my mind with me for a while and I reached out to my coach, Mike Gregory, and he said, yeah, let's aim for that,” she said.
Applications for the 20 Bridges Swim don’t open until January of the year you want to enter, so Peta and her coach began work 18-months in advance, creating a training schedule and building strength back up before going into full training. “When I recovered from my injury, I was in a fully-moulded training block so, what that actually looked like was jumping on phone calls or video conferences with Mike who was remote down in Melbourne and he was sending through weekly sets,” said Peta.
“Living out here, and training for a big swim meant I’ve had to be pretty resourceful. In the past I'd use my farm dams, but until recently they had been pretty dry.
“So I reached out to Coonamble Shire Council about continuing to use the pool and they gave me a key, which enabled me to access it outside hours, which was really important for doing some really long swims, and when the pool shut in April, they kindly kept the filters running so I was able to keep training, which was pretty amazing,” she said.
“That enabled me to essentially keep living and working out here while I was still training, and I did go and find open water when I could and used the dams when I had to, but just having access to that pool enabled me to stay out here.
“I kind of prepared that in the last month before going to the US that I might've had to go and live with family down in Orange or in Armidale where I've got work connections. I think that was really key [training at Gulargambone] to still be in that last stretch of training. It was a massive relief,” Peta said.
The community support that Peta received was overwhelming, she said.
Not only did the Coonamble Shire Council help provide a place to train, but Armatree Hotel also sponsored the swimmers Peta wore on the day of her big event.
Peta believes that while the bush has its limitations, the community support and resilience that the people have in rural areas makes all the difference.
Prior to the 20 Bridges event, Peta also completed the 'Alcatraz Escape' which is a 1.85 mile open water swim from Alcatraz Island in San Francisco.
While Peta was in New York's famed rivers, the people at home followed along. Getting up early to track her progress and see how she was going.
“The way the community has got around me, I still can't believe it,” Peta said.
“The council support, the support of the pub to be able to jump on board, and then everyone that messaged or followed along, or reached out as part of the journey, was utterly overwhelming. And I think it shows.
“One thing I'm passionate about is that people from the bush can do anything and one of the key reasons that we can is the support that you receive is just second to none,” said Peta.
On the day of the marathon swim (June 17) conditions were tough, with rough wind and choppy water proving to be challenging, however, Peta didn’t shy away from it.
The challenge drew her in and despite twinging her arm an hour and half into the swim, Peta swam the 20 Bridges Challenge in seven hours and 45 minutes beating the projected eight hour completion she had.
“I try to view the swim itself as a celebration for all the months of training that went into it so, it was a bit surreal to be over there at the accumulation point of all of those months of training,” Peta said.
“I was feeling prepared and feeling good, but there's always an element of unknown in open water because you're never quite sure what will happen on the day, but I was able to draw a lot on the training of my body, my mind and my stomach to complete the swim,
“About an hour and a half into the swim, during a rough part of the East River, I hit a bit of a wave, and I kind of felt a bit of a twinge in my shoulder,” she said.
“So I reached out to my team and said, I've got a little needle in my shoulder…once we got to the Hudson it definitely got choppy and we arrived a little ahead of schedule,
“The tides weren't in our favour when we hit the Hudson, and the first 30 minutes or so I didn't go very far…and I remember things weren't moving on the bank, I wasn't seeing us getting anywhere,
“That bridge wasn't getting any closer for a long time and with a little bit of a niggle, still knowing you've got a few hours to go, I think that was probably the toughest part of the swim.
“Then the tides came in our favour, it still got choppy as we went to the Hudson, but I started to make progress and I could see the skyline change and see some buildings I knew were around Central Park and knew I was getting close.
“I also knew at that point in time of the swim was when people back home…were getting up and checking the tracker, and I just imagined everyone back home watching that dot. I think that certainly carried me through that last part of the swim,” said Peta.
Life after the event has been just as busy, with Peta and her coach focusing on post event training.
She has also decided to take a small break from swimming and is getting back into running, Peta plans to participate in the Dubbo Stampede in September this year.
“I really don't want to commit straight away to something else just yet. My coach, Mike, he's helping me post swim, managing the fatigue and the come down is equally important and he's been fantastic for that,” said Peta.
“I'm doing the half marathon in the Dubbo Stampede, just to have a little goal to work towards over the next sort of 10 weeks and get back and do a bit of running,
“So I’m enjoying being back home and celebrating this swim and letting the body recover,” Peta said.
