Nova 106.9’s Susie O’Neill returns to competitive swimming

Olympic great and Nova 106.9 Breakfast host Susie O’Neill will return to competitive swimming this year, thanks to a scheme cooked up by her Nova radio colleagues to celebrate her 50th birthday.

The trio is heading to Japan to compete at the 2023 Aquatic Masters, and they had legendary commentator Ray ‘Rabs’ Warren on-air this week to reminisce about Susie’s golden career.

They also asked if he would call the upcoming race, for old times’ sake!

He promised he would think about it, but said it would be a hard race to call as Susie’s radio colleagues would probably end up swimming in the wrong lanes.

Susie’s surprise return to competitive swimming came about following her on-air pondering about how she should celebrate her 50^th.

Susie’s fellow hosts, Ash Bradnam and David ‘Luttsy’ Lutteral ambushed her on-air with their grand plan to get her back to an international competitive swim meet – and take them too.

Susie was reluctant at first.

“To be completely honest, it was a bit of a shock when Ash and Luttsy first put it to me as I try not to live my life as ‘Susie O’Neill, the swimmer’. I enjoyed that period of my life but it was very intense, and I actually enjoy my life a whole lot more now working in radio with Ash and Luttsy,” Susie said.

“The fact it is a relay team, with those guys, is really what makes me want to do it. I’ve never really been part of a team before I joined the radio show, so I think the fact it is a relay, with them, gets me excited.”

“And that the fourth member will be a Nova listener makes it even better. We will have a lot of fun!”

Ash, Luttsy & Susie O’Neill will fly to Japan in August to compete in the 50m mixed relay at the 2023 Aquatic Masters and need a fourth to complete their team – who needs to be female, aged 26+ and a freestyle swimmer.

The trio put the call out last week to Nova listeners who love to swim, inviting them to register their details.

Selected swimmers will then compete at locally held time trials to find the fastest swimmer to join Ash, Luttsy & Susie in Japan in August.