Belinda Bennett and Codie Grimsey continued to put Australia on top of the podium with their tough wins in the 10K race at the Oceania Swimming Championships.

Codey Grimsey, who won silver in the 5K, did not leave anything to chance in the 10K, breaking away from New Zealander Philip Ryan with 2K to go and winning in 2:05. “I was also really impressed with Codey and the way he swam the race,” commented Greg. “He stuck to his race plan, was controlled and upped the tempo when he needed to.”

Belinda went stroke-for-stroke for 2 hours and 17 minutes with Brooke Wilson in the women’s race, but had the inside track on the final turn buoy to gain a slight advantage for the victory.

From Samoa, Swimming Australia Open Water Head Coach Greg Towle said, “The way both girls swam the race was exactly the sort of performance I was looking for at these championships. We spoke about character at the start of the week and to see two girls race so hard, for more than two hours was a real sign that the depth in Australian open water swimming is starting to come through.”

The future looks to be clear and bright for the open water swimmers from Down Under.

Photo shows Codey Grimsey at the 2009 Noosa Blue swim in Australia.

Copyright © 2010 by Steven Munatones