Race of Champions

Trent Grimsey of Australia took a gamble and surprised an amazing field of Olympic and world champions at the 9th annual RCP The exuberance of the Olympic medalists is a joy to see.

Swimming by himself, far to the left of the main pack, Grimsey won by 14 seconds in 20:31 over Olympic 10K bronze medalist Thomas Lurz and world open water champion Vladimir Dyatchin.

Grimsey went stage left right from the start and proceeded on his own line across the 1.2-mile channel from Angel Island to the City of Tiburon just north of the Golden Gate Bridge.

The lead pack with Lurz, Dyatchin, Brendan Capell of Australia and Oussama Mellouli, the 1500 gold medalist, took a different line across the channel, all drafting and jostling with each other, but they couldn’t chase down the lone-swimming Grimsey.

“I didn’t second-guess myself and once I went for it, I was committed to my plan,” said Trent factually and confidently.

Grimsey, who similarly dominated the 2008 Tiburon Mile Waikiki Roughwater Swim, is also a great pool swimmer with a best time of 15:12 in the 1500-meter freestyle. “I decided to swim wide and go to the left [of the other swimmers] because I breathe to my right and I wanted to see the field. I basically went fast the entire race.”

The women's race was much different with the women close to one another. "I could see all my competitors and knew where they were," said world 25K open water champion Britta Kamrau. Kamrau reached the shoreline together with two-time world open water silver medalist Ekaterina Seliverstova of Russia. As they both ran up the beach, Kamrau was just a step ahead. “I am not good at running and I have never done a race where there is a run at the finish. I just put one step ahead of the other and beat [Seliverstova].”

Kirsten Groome of Louisiana and Luane Rowe of Sydney followed closely behind the top two women to take third and fourth respectively.

As the open water world looks to the 2012 London Olympics, the importance of swimming fast in cold water is key. At 63°F (17°C), the Tiburon Mile provides great preparation.

More comprehensive coverage and additional photos and results will be provided by Swimming World Magazine and the Morning Swim Show.
The top 30 overall swimmers are as follows:

1. Trent Grimsey in 20:31
2. Thomas Lurz in 20:45
3. Vladimir Dyatchin in 20:46
4. Brendan Capell in 20:47
5. Oussama Mellouli in 20:52
6. Andrew Beato in 21:14
7. Charles Cullom in 21:16
8. John K. Koehler in 21:37
9. Charles Peterson in 21:44
10. Aljaz Ojstersek in 21:46
11. Britt Kamrau in 21:48 [first woman]
12. Ekaterina Seliverstova in 21:49 [second woman]
13. Kirsten Groome in 21:54 [third woman]
14. Luane Rowe in 21:57 [fourth woman]
15. Alex Kostich in 21:59
16. Eva Fabian in 22:00 [fifth woman]
17. Dawn Heckman in 22:00 [sixth woman]
18. Chloe Sutton in 22:01 [seventh woman]
19. Noa Sakamoto in 22:09
20. Charlie Rimkus in 22:09
21. Steffan Troxel in 22:10
22. Sergiy Fesenko in 22:30
23. Angela Duckworth in 22:34
24. Erik Vendt in 22:37
25. John Flanagan in 22:39
26. Isaac Howell in 22:42
27. Madison Livingston in 22:45
28. Gary Wright in 22:46
29. Brock Redondo in 22:51
30. Evgeny Bezruchenko in 22:59

Photo copyright by Elliott copyright. Used by permission. Photo shows the different colored caps of the elite swimmers.

Copyright © 2008 by Open Water Source