Queensland swimmers have dominated their age groups in the third race of the Swimming WA Open Water Series at Coogee Beach, just south of Fremantle.
The emerging Queensland squad, under head coach Luke Stafford, has returned home with three gold, three silver and a bronze medal in a successful weekend in what was a huge confidence booster for the up-coming season and the Australian Championships and World Junior Trials in Busselton, WA in January.
The team thriving on the vibrant open water culture that exists in WA, that will come to life again when the cream of Australia’s open water talent converges on Busselton for the Ocean Swim Festival from January 25-28.
And for many, including Sienna Deurloo (Toowoomba Grammar; Coach: Jason Cooper) they will have the added incentive of the World Junior team selections.
Eighteen-year-old Deurloo continued her open water prowess, taking out the girls 10 km 17-18 years age group in a time of 2hours 09mins 48.9secs – the third female home – a race that also doubled as the WA State Championship.
With promising youngster Ella Reynolds (Noosa; Coach: Kareena Clark (nee Lee)) finishing second in her 10km debut in the 15/16 years age group in an impressive time of 2:09.56.40 – the fourth fastest female 10km time on the day.
Not to be outdone, Samuel Thorpe (St Peters Western; Coach: Mike Lewandowski) won the boys 17-18 years 10km in 1:58.15.90 from SPW club mate Callum Boyle (1:58.59.60) with Nolan Carrel (Noosa; Coach: John Rodgers) fourth home in 1:59.56.2 – the Queensland boys finishing second, third and sixth overall.
While 15-year-old trio Cerys Davis (Sunshine Coast Grammar; Coach: Luke Stafford) led home a Queensland sweep of the girls 7.5km, 18 Years and Under age group race in 1:37.48.20 from second-placed Amelie Smith (Rocky City; Coach: Shane Kingston) 1:39.12.30 with Rylee Smith (Redcliffe Leagues; Coach: Wanda Drew) third home in 1:41.37.50 – all three girls stepping up from 5km to 7.5km for the first time.
For Sunshine Coast Grammar head-coach Stafford, in charge of the team for the second time, the trip was another awesome experience for the team, with different conditions that they are not always used to, even in Queensland with Perth being so hot (in November with temperatures hitting the high 30s and 40).
“It was good to be there a few days earlier to get acclimatised and used to the heat and to make sure they had necessary hydration; they all turned up to do the job on the day, which was great to see,” said Stafford, who also spoke of the challenges of in-water feed stops.
“The feeding worked well with all three coaches, myself, Kareena and Jason up to our armpits in the water feeding three athletes each (when they swam around) and we were serviced by our team manager Scott Harrison who did a great job, delivering the feeds to us.
“Takeaways included sticking to their plans when it came to feeding and not getting influenced by other swimmers, so lessons learnt there too.
“We actually had a very useful debrief at the airport before flying home – sharing their experiences on the day, things that they thought they could have done better, things they thought they did really well and what they might do differently next time.
“I thought it was a good opportunity to learn from each other after learning from their own unique experience as well.
“They don’t have that many opportunities to race and practice these things – so they had the chance to listen to each other’s experience and hopefully take some of that on board for their own futures in open water which is really powerful as well.
“And for such a young group they were very mature about it…they listened to the coaches and it was nice to see that they really did learn stuff; and asking what they could do to be better open water swimmers in the future.
“It really felt like we were part of one club, coming together before the event and the support they showed for each other and respect they showed for the coaches – it felt like we had been together as a group for years, and not just a couple of days which was a really enjoyable experience for everybody.
“It was amazing to be part of the open water lifestyle that exists in WA.”
Thank you to Hancock Prospecting for making this possible!
