Young swimmer takes plunge in harbour crossing

Alex Dickson, 12, is using the ocean swim series to prepare for an attempt on Cook Strait. Photo / Richard Robinson

Alex Dickson was eight and had been swimming competitively for a year when she casually leaned over to her mum and said she'd like to have a go at swimming across Cook Strait.

Now 12, and one of the youngest competitors in today's Auckland leg of the Sovereign New Zealand Ocean Swim Series, Alex says she will have a crack at the 24km strait in the next three years.

But before she tackles the notorious stretch of water she will have to complete today's much shorter 2.8km swim from Quinton Park, Bayswater, to the Viaduct Harbour.

The event is the first in a series of six to be held over the summer at beaches around the country - all of which Alex is hoping to compete in, after she qualified by meeting the series' minimum-age requirement.

While her specialty is the 100m breast stroke, Alex says the ocean swimming experience, which she is hoping to complete in 90 minutes, will help prepare for her strait crossing.

She trains most days after school, swimming about 5km at her local pool in Feilding, and on her days off practises karate, in which she has a blue belt.

And at a time when most of her mates are enjoying their beauty sleep on Saturdays, Alex is back at the pool with her coach for a 6am start.

"It's going to be a challenge because the only ocean swimming experience I've had was at surf lifesaving at Himatangi [in Manawatu]," said Alex.

"We were chucked out of an IRB and told to swim the 500m back to shore - I did that four times in one day."

Alex knows that if she crosses Cook Strait, she won't be the youngest to achieve the milestone.

That honour belongs to Aditya Raut, who was 11 and 43kg when he travelled from India in 2005 to finish the 26km crossing from Ohau Pt to Cape Koamaru in 9 hours and 9 minutes.

Alex has already spoken to endurance swimmer Philip Rush, who has conquered the strait eight times and is one of only two people to complete a double crossing.

"He put it all into perspective for me and said I would be the safest person out there and everyone else would probably get seasick, so that's cool."

Scott Rice, director of the ocean swim series, says the quality of this year's lineup - with its strong mix of elite pool swimmers, including Olympians Moss Burmester and Danyon Loader, ocean swim experts and high-profile triathletes - is among the strongest in the event's history.

The six-race series has a $75,000 cash and prize pool.

Act Party leader Rodney Hide, TV presenter Jenny-May Coffin and Shortland Street actors Bonnie Soper, Harry McNaughton and Ido Drent are also taking the plunge.