Ocean swimming: Capp, Miller rule Mount waters

Mount Maunganui surf club lifeguards guide the swimmers around the rocks.

The 4km swim from Pilot Bay, around Mauao and finishing with a sprint finish at the Mount Main Beach, is one of the highlights of the sporting summer.

Yesterday a bumper field of 213 athletes traversed the tricky currents, sharp rocks and unwanted jellyfish, with plenty of interest in the battle up front between the elite swimmers.

In the end it was New Zealand 1500m record holder Nathan Capp and rising swim star Jessica Miller who took out their respective divisions.

Miller was one of a number of Mount Maunganui Lifeguard Service lifeguards who did well, including Perry Farrell (2nd), Kane Sefton (3rd) and George Haynes (4th) in the men's race.

Capp, 21, who grew up swimming at the Greerton Swim Club and now is based at the High Performance Centre on Auckland's North Shore, won the race in 43m 23s to break the record of 44.28 set by his cousin Moss Burmester in 2005.

"This is definitely a unique event. It is awesome to come back here every year and do it," Capp said. "It is great fun and I think it really helps my training a lot for the 1500 as it helps with your toughness.

"Navigation is definitely the biggest challenge. Choosing lines depending on currents and whether you think you are confident enough to go out in the stronger water and get more pull around or go through the rocks."

Capp is happy with his recent form, building to the nationals in a few months' time.

"I am really happy with how it is going and I am looking forward to the nationals in April. I am just looking forward to swimming this year as it should be a good year."

Miller, 18, followed up her Bridge to Bridge win on Saturday with another convincing display to win by five minutes in 48.03, with Maia Bryant second and Sarah Mortimer third.

Miller swam most of the way in a group with male colleagues from the Mount Maunganui Surf Club, which she said helped her swim such a fast time to finish in 7th place overall.

She said they had some minor drama avoiding the rocks but the lifeguards advised the swimmers where to go.

"We were quite close to the rocks at one point and the lifeguards kind of told us to move away.

"One of the guys hit one but it was not really anything too bad. We were swimming very close to the Mount though ... The tide was going out really fast so we went out into the channel a little bit and it picked us up which gave us a big wash from that before we came straight back in. The channel definitely helped."