A TOP team of four Coffs Harbour swimmers have once again shown they are amongst the finest in Australia.

The four swimmers achieved top-ten placings at the recent Open Water National Championships at Brighton Beach in Adelaide.

Mitchell Hickey competed in the 18 years 10km event on Day 1, placing fifth in Australia for his age.

He narrowly missed fourth with just the smallest of margins separating the two swimmers.

He then backed up with an exceptional swim the following day in the 18 years 5km event, also placing fifth.

His swim saw him officially break 1 hour for the 5km event, an incredible achievement in itself and a big personal best, which given the surf conditions makes it even more amazing.

Lilly Geddes also competed over both days in the 16 years 7.5km and 5km events placing seventh and sixth respectively.

Her 7.5km event was held in the toughest conditions of the two-day event, winds were quite high creating swell.

Her swim was put together well and saw her as the highest ranked swimmer from NSW in her age.

Isaiha Phillips competed in the 18 years 10km event, placing sixth in the event.

Andrea Thomson competed in the 14 years 5km event, her first ever ocean swim and just her second ever 5km swim.

She placed seventeenth in her event and it was great to see her get out of her very first ocean swim smiling.

Coach Sarah-Jane Weir shared with News Of The Area the immense pride she felt about her team’s efforts in Adelaide.

“As a coach I couldn’t be prouder of these amazing young people, their results were incredible and a testament to their hard work, commitment and dedication,” she said.

“Open Water Swimming is an amazing sport, and athletes are faced with challenges that aren’t posed to them in the pool.

“The huge amount of kilometres put into training, along with the additional training learning to cope with conditions, to sight and spot and also swim in large groups make this sport a unique one.

“As a coach I’m just thrilled to finally have athletes competing, and achieving results at such high levels in this event from the Coffs Coast.”

 

By Aiden BURGESS