Grimsey Makes It Two From Two

Australian Trent Grimsey has stormed to victory in the 2012 State Harbour
Crossing, continuing his blistering form in the series.

 

Grimsey, 24, finished the 2.9km swim from Bayswater to the Viaduct Harbour
in 35:09, and was more than a minute ahead of fellow Australian and double
Olympian Ky Hurst, who finished second.

Grimsey’s win follows in equally dominant performance when he won the State
Paihia Classic, three weeks ago.

Conditions were challenging for all of the 1500 swimmers today, with winds of
up to 30 knots making the water extremely choppy.

“This was probably as tough as any race I’ve done in terms of the conditions,”
Grimsey said. “It is a lot harder to swim in the chop than in flat water, but I think
it affected my competitors a bit more than me; I don’t mind it when it’s like this.”

Grimsey’s brother Codie, 22, who won the 2010 Harbour Crossing, finished third
just ahead of South African Troy Prinsloo.

The 27 year old from Durban, who finished 12th at this year’s London Olympics
in the 10km open water swim, found the going tough.

“Today was quite physical and I didn’t really enjoy that,” Prinsloo said. “I
suppose if I want to carry on with open water, I’ve got to get used to it.”

The women’s race was won by defending champion Cara Baker, 22, but only
after an error from her main rival, Charlotte Webby.

The 24 year old from New Plymouth led Baker for most of the race only to swim
to make a navigational error 200m from the finish. She swam to the left of a
marker buoy when should have swum to the right of it. That allowed Baker to
defend her win from last year.

“It was really unfortunate for her; maybe it was my good fortune to go on the
right side,” Baker said. “I was certainly surprised to see the tape out for me not
her, when I got out of the water.

Webby was gutted; wins against her rival have been rare.

“It was my mistake; I was really hoping for a win against her,” Webby said.
“Cara’s an awesome swimmer. Maybe next time, hopefully next time.”

The State Harbour Crossing was round two of this season’s six race series.

The last four races in the series are held in the New Year, in Wellington, Akaroa,
Mount Maunganui and Takapuna.

This year’s series is the third richest in the world, with NZ$20,000 on offer
for the leading man and woman. Only the FINA Open Water Swimming Grand
Prix and the FINA 10km Marathon Swimming World Cup are richer than New
Zealand’s event.