Visitor takes crown

Gold Coast Swimmer Solomon Wright won round 7 of the Swimming WA Open Water Series at Middleton Beach at the weekend.

Wright, a member of the successful Miami Swimming Club, beat out a record number of entrants in the Albany 5km race to claim the gold medal, in an impressive time of 1hr.03min.49sec.

Kurt Wesley came in second more than five minutes behind, stopping the clock at 1:08.43, with Albany local Damien McAleese (1:12.11) taking the bronze.

Rebekah Weller (1:20.31) was the first woman home in the 5km race while Nicola Fraschini (36min.37sec.) and Roxanne Shahtahmasebi (47:29) won the men’s and women’s open 2.5km race respectively. Albany Swim Club head coach Marshal McAleese said despite fairly rough conditions, the club’s members all swam well.

“It was a record attendance of competitors for this particular round, which is good for Albany to have so many people in town at this time of year,” he said.

Other stand-out local performances included Zachary Wells (43:18) who won gold in the men’s under-15 2.5km race, Gabriela Cannon (1:29:26) who took silver in the women’s under-18 5km race and Angus Bowles (25:03) who also won silver in his under-15 1.25km race.

Willem Freebury stood on top of the podium in the men’s wetsuit category with a time of 42:05 ahead of Chad Marriott (46:38) while Dana Neuman (43:45) won gold in the women’s wetsuit race.