Hundreds take to the Swan River for the first BHP Billiton Open Water Challenge
Swimming Australia
Published: Jan 20, 2013 04:23:52 PM Updated: Jun 4, 2013 09:29:12 AM
Hundreds of competitors from South Africa, the USA, New Zealand, Greece and all over Australia have taken to the Swan River in Perth for the mass participation Open Water Swimming Challenge at the BHP Billiton Aquatic Super Series.
Swimmers from all walks of life and of varying standards shared the water in events that ranged from 500m to the Olympic marathon swimming distance of 10km.
Leading the way in the elite open 10km event and taking home first prize of $15,000 each, were Australians Rhys Mainstone and dual Olympian Mel Gorman.
Today’s win was not the first time Mainstone and Gorman have tasted success together, the pair joining Ky Hurst to claim silver in the 5km team event at the 2011 FINA World Championships in Shanghai.
With a vocal group of family and friends on the shoreline, Mainstone (1hr51mins31.91) proved too strong for the 2012 FINA Open Water Swimming Grand Prix champion and English Channel crossing record holder Trent Grimsey (1:53:18.48) who finished second, and Greece’s Evangelos Tsirapidis (1:55:15.97), Mainstone’s training partner at the University of Western Australia under coach Mel Tantrum.
While Mainstone’s main focus is the Australian Open Championships on Lake Macquarie in Newcastle in a fortnight’s time, he said the prize money on offer and the chance to race in front of a home crowd in such spectacular conditions ensured he prepared well for the BHP Billiton Aquatic Super Series event.
“It’s fantastic, for a day like this, a nice Sunday, with great conditions and to get to race in front of my home town in a fantastic city, is wonderful,” Mainstone said.
“This (result and the $15,000 prize) is massive. I work full time and for this to happen, I’m able to cut back on my work and focus more on training and hopefully that will get me better results in the future.
“The goal for me now is, two weeks to prepare for the national championships where I’ll hopefully perform well again.”
Gorman, a former world 5km open water champion and veteran of two Olympic campaigns, said it was great to be involved in such a positive event for open water swimming.
“It’s such a beautiful day with nice conditions and it’s really just a good day for a swim,” Gorman said.
“It’s great to see events like this and encouraging people, whether they are elite or not, to get involved in open water swimming. It’s such a great sport and it’s growing around the world.”
Like Mainstone, Gorman, who was 11th in the 10km event at the 2012 London Olympic Games, said she had her eyes on the national championships.
“This race was just part of my season plan but obviously the 15 grand prize money was a really big incentive.
“I really didn’t taper or anything with nationals coming up but it was a really good hit out to see where I’m at with my training.
Finishing second to Gorman (1:56:49.79) was Malaysian Olympian Heidi Gan (2:02:13.84), with South Australian Leah Cutting in third in (2:10:13.58).
Earlier in the weekend the EnergyAustralia Swim Team took out the two-day elite pool competition ahead of China and South Africa, whilst Olympic champions Croatia won the men’s water polo and the Aussie Stingers the women’s water polo.
In other events…
500m -
Dual Paralympic gold medallist Katherine Downie was the first to finish in the 500m open water challenge, taking out her age group (13-17 years) but also finishing first in the entire field.
1.25km -
After a gutsy effort in the men’s 800m freestyle last night, Ryan Napoleon tried his hand at open water swimming and came out on top in the men’s 1.25km division. The London Olympic debutant picked up an extra $1000 for his early morning effort.
Fresh off the back of the World Short Course Championships, breaststroker Sarah Katsoulis blitzed her age-group category (25-40) in the 1.25km race, finishing in 16:51.86, almost a full minute ahead of her closest rival.
Fellow Aussie Belinda Hocking switched strokes for the 18-24 years 1.25km race to finish an admirable second.
2.5km -
South Africans Jessica Pengelly and Myles Brown each took top spot in the 18-24 years 2.5km open water challenge. Twenty-one-year-old Pengelly was born in South Africa but trains under Matt Magee at Beatty Park in Perth.
5km –
Australian Olympians Jarrod Poort (17-24yrs) and Kenrick Monk (25-40yrs) have won their respective age groups in the 5km event.
Eighteen year-old Poort hit the touchpad in 57:21.11 to win an enthralling battle in his age-group with 24-year-old Perth local Simon Huitenga (57:27.51).
Monk, who was also a member of the EnergyAustralia Swim Team in the elite pool competition, claimed his age group with a time of 58:52.07.
The standout female was rising Gold Coast-based distance swimmer Bonnie McDonald who won the 13-17yrs event in 58:53.01.
Results Summary:
1.25km
13 – 17 Female
1 Tiana Zappacosta 0:17:51.56
2 Sarah Jessop 0:17:53.56
3 Emma Warburton 0:20:11.09
13 - 17 Male
1 Christopher Reid 0:14:40.18
2 Thomas Wagstaff 0:15:41.96
3 Calvyn Justus 0:16:12.96
18 - 24 Female
1 Rene Warnes 0:15:08.56
2 Belinda Hocking 0:15:57.76
3 Sarah Thomason 0:25:17.56
18 - 24 Male
1 Ryan Napoleon 0:14:03.52
2 Ayrton Sweeney 0:14:32.41
3 Byron Doyle 0:15:00.86
25 - 40 Female
1 Sarah Katsoulis 0:16:51.86
2 Carolyn Gorrick 0:17:42.56
3 Claire Ware 0:21:21.86
25 - 40 Male
1 Simon Leckie 0:15:01.84
2 David Locke 0:15:40.96
3 Andy Muller 0:18:48.96
41 - 55 Female
1 Nicola Corsbie 0:20:04.76
2 Liz Bettridge 0:23:18.76
41 - 55 Male
1 Paul Blackbeard 0:15:11.86
2 Jon Jessop 0:18:41.24
3 Warren Player 0:23:34.96
56 and Over Female
1 Andrea Williams 0:25:26.66
2 Alexis Denness 0:41:31.43
56 and Over Male
1 Vic Paul 0:18:39.51
2 Russel Fowler 0:23:11.06
3 Thomas Abbott 0:27:03.06
2.5km
13 - 17 Female
1 Marlies Ross 0:30:19.56
2 Emma Hargrave 0:37:50.36
13 - 17 Male
1 Thurston Hewitt 0:31:25.16
2 Guy Harrison-Murray 0:33:01.56
3 Lewis Downes 0:35:17.76
18 - 24 Female
1 Jessica Pengelly 0:30:18.61
2 Kate Bird 0:31:33.56
18 - 24 Male
1 Myles Brown 0:28:59.16
2 David Alston 0:36:13.70
3 James Drew 0:44:33.20
25 - 40 Female
1 Emma Johnston 0:35:21.66
2 Jess Palmer 0:36:09.46
3 Briohny Smith 0:36:16.36
25 - 40 Male
1 Tim Hewitt 0:29:55.56
2 Damon Brown 0:33:22.66
3 Brendan Mahoney 0:45:00.34
41 - 55 Female
1 Sally Mauk 0:44:14.16
2 Michelle Ireland 0:44:37.66
3 Lorraine Driscoll 0:47:09.16
41 - 55 Male
1 Benjamin Hewitt 0:31:28.56
2 Frank Van Rooney 0:35:47.09
3 Leon Musca 0:36:06.16
56 and Over Female
1 Ann Marie Lane 1:02:32.56
56 and Over Male
1 Graham Croft 0:36:08.19
2 David Moss 0:48:55.95
5km
13 - 17 Female
1 Bonnie Macdonald 0:58:53.01
2 Kyna Pereira 1:02:21.16
3 Michelle Weber 1:02:39.21
13 - 17 Male
1 Brett Fielding 0:59:37.11
2 Lachlan Tassell 1:06:10.16
3 Aiden Schubert 1:07:22.11
18 - 24 Female
1 Rebekah Weller 1:11:12.38
2 Heather Snowdon 1:16:37.91
3 Emily Rose 1:18:12.11
18 - 24 Male
1 Jarrod Poort 0:57:21.11
2 Simon Huitenga 0:57:27.51
3 Ridge Grimsey 0:58:20.48
25 - 40 Female
1 Naomi Watters 1:08:29.91
2 Rachel Duczynski 1:13:13.01
3 Kira Flanagan 1:17:19.91
25 - 40 Male
1 Marek Hemon 0:49:48.91
2 Kenrick Monk 0:58:52.07
3 Jeremy Brooke-Smith 1:00:05.31
41 - 55 Female
1 Lyle Kildea 1:18:20.61
2 Alison Jennings 1:49:27.19
41 - 55 Male
1 Craig Martin 1:09:09.89
2 Thomas Scott 1:09:35.79
3 Jonahtan Haines 1:10:04.89
56 and Over Female
1 Eleanor Parsons 1:22:36.69
2 Bett Craig 1:32:22.89
56 and Over Male
1 Michael Cook 1:14:35.99
10km
18 - 24 Female
1 Jess Walker 2:06:46.87
2 Elizabeth Bellis 2:21:25.51
3 Brenda Evans 3:06:47.21
18 - 24 Male
1 Kane Radford 1:54:10.42
2 Joshua Richardson 1:54:12.40
3 Codie Grimsey 1:55:54.51
25 - 40 Female
1 Catherine Jameson 1:28:45.17
2 Jaime Bowler 2:12:57.71
3 Ceinwen Roberts 2:25:45.90
25 - 40 Male
1 Paul Laver 2:00:46.11
2 Paul Newsome 2:12:44.51
3 Ben Mackinnon 2:13:03.51
41 - 55 Female
1 Allison Hayes 2:23:51.26
2 Dori Miller 2:30:32.26
3 Liz Grant 2:42:12.46
41 - 55 Male
1 Paul Vivers 2:22:39.48
2 Gary Clayden 2:28:54.98
3 Wayne Morris 2:38:19.66
Open Female
1 Melissa Gorman 1:56:49.79
2 Heidi Gan 2:02:13.84
3 Leah Cutting 2:10:13.58
Open Male
1 Rhys Mainstone 1:51:31.19
2 Trent Grimsey 1:53:18.48
3 Evangelos Tsirapidis 1:55:15.97
Over 55 Female
1 Rosemary O'Halloran 2:56:44.46
2 Carol Lake 3:28:24.46
Over 55 Male
1 Simon High 3:15:06.26
500m
13 - 17 Female
1 Katherine Downie 0:07:37.89
2 Polina Nazarova 0:12:06.19
25 - 40 Female
1 Jenny Cockill 0:11:40.35
2 Nicole O'Keefe 0:13:50.79
3 Rachel Cornah 0:14:51.43
25 - 40 Male
1 William Kay 0:08:31.69
2 Jordan McGrath 0:08:41.19
3 Joshua O'Keffe 0:10:16.43
41 - 55 Female
1 Lise Ashton 0:12:26.21
2 Sigrid Adams 0:15:45.79
3 Kim Moscarda 0:16:04.59
41 - 55 Male
1 Chevie Vander Velde 0:10:49.59
2 Steve Ashton 0:15:50.69
Australian team unites to take top spot at BHP Billiton Aquatic Super Series
Night two of the $500,000 BHP Billiton Aquatic Super Series at Challenge Stadium in Perth has seen Australia’s Olympic stars Christian Sprenger and Cate Campbell put in the highlight performances for the second day in a row.
On a night when the EnergyAustralia Swim Team sealed the overall points tally with a powerful and united team performance, Sprenger and Campbell – who both train under Simon Cusack at Indooroopilly in Brisbane – stood above the pack that included plenty of Olympic and world champions.
Sprenger won the male swimmer of the meet title – and with it $15,000 - for his night one 100m breaststroke swim (942 FINA points), while Campbell (921) also won the big cash and was crowned best female after her 100m freestyle yesterday. The FINA point score, a tool used to compare times across all disciplines, was used to decide the best performances across the individual events.
Sprenger, who proved his strength at the meet by posting the three highest men’s FINA scores (only a swimmer’s best performance counts), beat out James Magnussen (911 for 100m freestyle) and South Africa’s Giulio Zorzi (889/50m breaststroke).
Campbell edged out China’s dual Olympic champion Ye Shiwen (920 in both 200 and 400m individual medley) and teammate Emily Seebohm (919/100m backstroke), who won $10,000 and $5,000 respectively.
In the overall point score, Australia amassed 363 points to beat China’s 272 and South Africa 156.
The whole meet was an outstanding success and Campbell, who won the 50 and 100m freestyle double over the two days of racing, said she loved racing in the sunny open air conditions, with the supportive crowd on hand.
“It seems that I love racing outdoors, I’ve done some of my best racing outdoors,” Campbell enthused.
“Both overseas in America and in Rome were my two best meets speed wise. It must be all the vitamin D.
“This is the most fun I’ve had at a swim meet for a long, long time. It’s about getting out supporting the team.”
Campbell had led the FINA point score - and the race to the $15,000, since early on day one of the meet but said she tried not to think about it.
“To be quite honest that’s just been the last thing on my mind,” she said.
“I’d be more than happy to race for nothing and was just excited to come out here and have a good blow out.”
Sprenger, who truly was the star of the meet, preferred to talk about the Australian team’s success.
“This whole experience, this whole meet has been incredible, coming together as a team has been amazing,” Sprenger said.
“A big thank you to BHP Billiton and the WA Government for putting it on, it’s been a really great experience.”
The BHP Billiton Aquatic Super Series resumes tomorrow morning with the elite and mass participation Open Water swimming events in the iconic Swan River.
In other events…
Mixed 8 x 50m freestyle relay
Australia had middle distance freestyle specialist Thomas Fraser-Holmes swimming an inspired anchor leg in the men’s 8x50m freestyle relay. With the Aussies managing to hold off China in a thrilling finish, hitting the wall in 3:11.28, just 0.16 ahead of China, with South Africa third in 3:17.08.
Women’s 50m freestyle
Sisters Cate Campbell and Bronte Campbell, semi-finalists at last year’s Olympic Games, scored a family quinella with the elder Cate clocking 24.46 to Bronte’s 25.11.
South African Trudi Maree won her second medal of the meet, grabbing bronze in 25.50.
Men’s 50m freestyle
Matt Targett and James Magnussen, winners of the 50m butterfly and 100m freestyle respectively on the first night of action, snared Australia’s second consecutive 1-2 finish.
Targett, a triple Olympic relay medallist, clocked 22.00 to Magnussen’s 22.21. China’s Lu Zhiwu was third in 22.59.
Women’s 200m breaststroke
Last night’s 100m breaststroke victor, Australian team veteran Sarah Katsoulis, made it a winning double by storming over the top of team mate Sally Foster to win in 2:26.52.
Olympic finalist Foster, swimming internationally at a long course meet for the first time under the tutelage of new coach Peter Bishop, clocked 2:26.85, with China’s He Yun next in 2:33.45.
Men’s 200m breaststroke
Australians Christian Sprenger and Brenton Rickard are both at the stages of their swimming careers where they had declared the 200m breaststroke a bridge too far but the experienced pair dug deep for the Australian cause and snared another Aussie quinella in an event they no longer admit to swimming.
Sprenger won in a convincing 2:11.27, to Rickard’s 2:14.30 and Yunkun Huang’s 2:17.64.
Women’s 100m butterfly
China’s 2012 Olympic 100m butterfly silver medallist Ying Lu led from start to finish to just hold off Australia’s bronze medallist from London, Alicia Coutts (58.66).
The five-time Olympic medallist charged at Ying (58.57) late but couldn’t quite overturn the Olympic result. Exciting South African 17-year-old Marne Erasmus was third in 1:00.23.
Men’s 100m butterfly
Australian Olympians Chris Wright (52.69) and Jayden Hadler (52.77) capitalised on the absence of world number two South African Chad le Clos. W right took the race out hard, leading his younger teammate Hadler by 0.18 at the turn before hanging on over the last few metres. Chen Yin of China was well back in third in 54.17.
Women’s 4x100m freestyle relay
Australia’s only swimming gold medallists from the London Olympics - Cate Campbell (53.65), Brittany Elmslie (55.08) and Melanie Schlanger (54.67)
– with Bronte Campbell (55.85) crushed the field to win the women’s 4x100m freestyle relay in 3:39.05.
China, who were fourth in London, were second to the finish some eight seconds back but were disqualified, elevating South Africa (3:49.75) into the silver medal position.
Men’s 4x100m freestyle relay
The Australian men’s relay team of James Roberts (50.06), Matt Targett (49.08), Kenrick Monk (50.81) and James Magnussen (48.38) easily accounted for China clocked 3:22.02 and South Africa 3:25.41.
For Monk it was his fourth relay gold medal of the meet, showing him to be the ultimate team man.
Women’s and men’s mixed 800m freestyle
Only one swimmer from each nation contested the male and female 800m freestyle that was swum as a mixed heat. The times of each national combination were then added together to score points for the overall tally to decide the champion country.
China’s Yiwen Shao claimed the women’s half of the event in 8:34.45, from Australian backstroker Meagan Nay, who was swimming the uncustomary event to help her team fill a gap and win valuable points.
Nay clocked 8:45.24, with South African Michelle Weber, 16, third in 8:49.98.
Rising South African star Myles Brown, who trains under Chad le Clos’ coach Graham Hill in Durban, scored his country’s first win of the meet.
Brown (7:59.12) made his move at the 500m mark and then held off the advances of Australia’s Olympic 400m finalist Ryan Napoleon (7:59.58) to win a thriller. The pair finished well ahead of China’s Jun Dai (8:14.46).
Overall, Australia won the gold from China and South Africa.
Women’s 50m breaststroke
London Olympic debutant Leiston Pickett stormed to the wall in the women’s 50m breaststroke, touching in 31.07 to just hold off teammate Sarah Katsoulis (31.26) from snaring a breaststroke treble.
China’s Olympic 100m semi-finalist Jin Zhao finished next in 32.29.
Men’s 50m breaststroke
Christian Sprenger continued his stunning form and ensured a breaststroke treble with a win in a slick 27.37.
The Australian, who won silver in the 100m breaststroke at the London Olympics, held off plucky South African Giulio Zorzi (27.73), with Aussie Brenton Rickard finishing back in 28.05.
Women’s 100m backstroke
Australia’s Emily Seebohm, silver medallist at the London Olympics in this event, was outstanding in clocking a swift 59.77 to easily account for China’s Fu Yuanhui, a surprise winner of last night’s 50m backstroke.
Fu hit the wall in 1:00.50 to just edge out Aussie Olympic finalist Belinda Hocking (1:00.87).
Men’s 100m backstroke
China’s Olympic finalist Cheng Feiyi (54.42) won gold from Australians Daniel Arnamnart (54.70) and Ash Delaney (55.11).
Cheng led South African Charl Crous at the turn and held on despite the strong second laps from the Australian duo.
Women’s 200m freestyle
London Olympic 200m freestyle bronze medallist Bronte Barratt showed her undoubted class to dismantle the claims of 18-year-old teammate Brittany Elmslie and China’s Guo Jun Jun.
Barratt took the lead not long after the first turn and slowly but surely put distance into the field to win in 1:58.12 from Elmslie’s 1:58.72 and Guo’s 1:59.59.
Men’s 200m freestyle
Olympic finalist for Australia, Thomas Fraser-Holmes has declared he will focus on middle distance freestyle rather than spreading his energies across freestyle and medley events this year and that looks to have paid off after he easily won the 200m freestyle in 1:46.62.
Fraser-Holmes beat teammate David McKeon (1:48.50) and 17-year-old Chinese talent Hao Yun (1:50.00).
Women’s 400m individual medley
Predictably, China’s Olympic champion and world record holder Ye Shiwen won her pet event; the 400m individual medley, stopping the clock in 4:37.04 to win by more than seven seconds ahead of Australian Samantha Hamill (4:42.73).
Aussie Olympic golden girl Alicia Coutts, swimming the event for the first time since 2006, was third in 4:44.90.
Men’s 400m individual medley
Wang Shun (China) proved too strong for Australians Mitch Larkin (4:19.98) and Olympic 200m medley semi-finalist Daniel Tranter (4:23.53) in the men’s 400m individual medley.
Wang, 18, who was 23rd in the 200m individual medley in London, clocked 4:17.85.
Women’s 4 x 100m medley relay
Belinda Hocking (1:00.77), Sarah Katsoulis (1:07.30), Emily Seebohm (59.62) and Melanie Schlanger (54.41) combined for a time of 4:02.10, to an apparent victory over China (4:11.02) and South Africa (4:13.80).
However, after officials conferred, both Australia and China were disqualified for – the Aussies a break in the breaststroke to butterfly changeover and China for a breach of the 15m mark in the backstroke leg.
Despite the false start in her leg, Seebohm, who swam the uncustomary butterfly position, showed her versatility and value to the team. She has now represented Australia in relays in three strokes.
Men’s 4 x 100m medley relay
In the meet’s final event, Daniel Arnamnart – 54.81, Christian Sprenger – 1:00.42, Chris Wright – 52.59 and James Magnussen – 48.54, ensured Australia finished the meet with a clean sweep of all eight relays at this competition.
They swam a time of 3:36.36 in beating China (3:41.39) and South Africa (3:42.37).
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