Australians dominate Oceania open water swim in Rotorua

Australians took out both 10km swim titles at the Oceania Open Water Championships near Rotorua today.

Queensland’s Trent Grimsey took out the men’s title by nearly 20 seconds over New Zealand’s main hope Kane Radford while Amy Thompson edged out her Queensland compatriot Stacey Hansford in the women’s race at Lake Okataina.

Radford, chasing selection for the upcoming world championships in his bid for the Beijing Olympics, had to be content with second place. It was a disappointing swim for the 17-year-old who has been in such strong form over the last 12 months. He was back in fourth place with one lap remaining and managed to fight his way to second behind Grimsey, who was fifth in last December’s Australian 5km championships.

Eighteen-year-old Auckland swimmer Phillip Ryan (Waterhole) made a bold attempt to take on his more fancied rivals going out strongly from the start. He opened a gap of 150m and was only caught on the penultimate lap of the exhausting race.
Grimsey (Albany Creek) opened a narrow advantage going into the final lap and was never seriously challenged with Radford pushing through to second ahead of 16-year-old Australian Blake Collis with Ryan fourth.

“Phillip was impressive even though it did not quite come off today,” Swimming New Zealand’s Clive Rushton said. “The two Australians were very solid although we were looking a more commanding effort from Kane Radford today.

“The conditions were absolutely perfect for a top performance with flat water, no wind and warm water temperatures.”

Thompson 18 (Maroochydore) and Hansford 17 (Albany Creek) continued their close rivalry in the women’s race.

They pulled clear of New Zealand’s Joyce Wiegersma (Southland), swimming together for the seven laps before a fierce final sprint went in favour of Thompson, with both swimmers recording the same time. It continues their close battles finishing fourth and fifth respectively in the Australian championships.

Wiegersma finished third more than three minutes behind the Australian pair.

The 5km open water race takes place on Tuesday and the New Zealand 5km championships on Wednesday, both at Lake Rotoma.

Results, Oceania Open Water Swim, Lake Okataina, 10km:

Men:

Trent Grimsey (Australia) 1:59:34.8, 1; Kane Radford (New Zealand) 1:59:53.2, 2; Blake Collis (Australia) 2:00:06.9, 3; Phillip Ryan (New Zealand) 2:00:34.8, 4; Jack Carmine (New Zealand) 2:04:50.1, 5; Rudy Bernard (New Caledonia) 2:24:52.0, 6. Jeremy Verlaguet (New Caledonia) dnf.

Women:

Amy Thompson (Australia) 2:04.51.0, 1; Stacey Hansford (Australia) 2:04.51.0, 2; Joyce Wiegersma (New Zealand) 2:08:22.4, 3; Alex Goddard (New Zealand) 2:29:58.0, 4. Laurene Gross and Armelle Hidrio (both New Caledonia) dnf.