Four Masterton Swimming Club members gained top placings at the Waikato open water championships held at Lake Karapiro last Saturday, an event which attracted entries from all over the North Island.
Isacc Foote, 16, was first in the open men's 10km race, beating home 14 rivals in a time of 1hr
59mins, three minutes faster than when he first competed over that distance in NSW just six days earlier, finishing third on that occasion.
Coach Anna Kitching said it was significant that Foote recorded a time under two hours in water which was not as flat as that experienced in Sydney
William Hamilton grabbed gold in the 5km event in the 13-15yrs age group in what was his first ever open swim over that distance. He clocked a respectable time of 1hr 1min after sticking with the second bunch from the 10km event which started at the same time.
Kitching said Hamilton had benefitted from time spent with New Zealand open water development manager Philip Rush, who assisted with coaching on the day.
Ben Ruback, 14, won his age group in the 2.5km race, placing third overall, and Tessa Foote, 14, was third in her age group in her 2.5km event. It was the first open water outing for both of them. Ben Ravenwood, 15, also swum over 2.5km and did well in what was also his first open water experience.
Kitching said the results achieved at Lake Karapiri were a direct result of the swimmers committing themselves to their training schedules. Hamilton will now go on to contest the national open water championships in mid-January where he will race over 5km while Isacc Foote will also compete there, over both 5km and 10km.
