Magali Rousseau, who competed for France at the Beijing Olympics, will be among the starters in the Round the Mount Swim today.

More than 250 swimmers are expected to set off from Pilot Bay in the 33rd annual event. For some it will come hard on the heels of the annual Murray Dingle Memorial Bridge to Bridge swim – 600m or 1500m from the Sebel Trinity Hotel to the railway bridge by Harbourside Restaurant. Is that a big ask?

Magali Rousseau, who competed for France at the Beijing Olympics, and Mount Surf Club member Hamish Miller are ready for the Round the Mount swim on Sunday.

Not to 17-year-old Hamish Miller from Mount Maunganui, who put in a powerful performance last year to finish 3rd behind fellow Mount Surf Club swimmers Perry Farrell and Kane Sefton. He's keeping it in the family – sister Jess took out the Women's title in 2015.

'The Bridge to Bridge is quite nice because you have the current going with you, so it's very fast. This is more of a sprint while the Round the Mount is more long distance.”

Long distance is right – there's a choice of a 4km swim around Mauao, starting in Pilot Bay to Mount Main Beach, or a 7.5km swim that also takes in a loop around Rabbit Island. To put it in perspective, that's like swimming from the start of Cameron Road to Barkes Corner at Greerton.

Magali met John ‘Spindles' Bryant from the Mount Surf Club at the 2014 World Swimming Championship in France, where Spindles coached the French team for the ocean events.

'Ocean swimming is very different to the pool. I swam butterfly [at the Olympics], but even freestyle is completely different because you have to watch out for the waves and things that are happening, it's not just flat water.”

Hamish says navigation is a big thing in the Round the Mount Swim. 'You have to always look up to see where you're going. Last year some people just had their heads down swimming and hit the rocks.”

Shorebreak Aquatics event manager Sheryl McLay says both events attract a lot of interest.

'The numbers will be up there with previous years and, as always, we expect a number of people to enter on the day of the swims.”

The Round the Mount Swim starts 9.30am at Pilot Bay.