Fast Finish For The Future

Belinda Bennett of Australia and Ryan Feeley (picture on left) of the USA won exciting races down the stretch at the Junior Pan Pacific Swimming Championship 10K race in Guam yesterday (photo of race course shown below).

Just like the pro marathon swimmers on the FINA pro circuit and like it will be at the 2009 World Swimming Championships in Rome and the London 2012 Olympics, both the boy’s and girl’s races came down to the wire in a furious sprint after a lot of tactical racing. The results with their birth year and country were as follows:

1. Belinda Bennett (born 1992) Australia - 2:04:11.66
2. Danielle DeFrancesco (1992) Australia - 2:04:13.03
3. Hiromi Okazawa (1992) Japan - 2:04:15.36
4. Eva Fabian (1993) U.S.A. - 2:04:15.63
5. Zsofia Balazs (1990) Canada - 2:04:53.51
6. Nadine Williams (1993) Canada - 2:10:22.55
7. Mako Kuramatsu (1992) Japan - 2:10:47.76
8. Shiori Ogawa (1992) Japan - 2:11:40.87
9. Kelly Baird (1992) U.S.A. - 2:12:32.82

1. Ryan Feeley (1991) U.S.A. - 1:53:37.65
2. Rhys Mainstone (1990) Australia - 1:53:38.20
3. Kohei Yamada (1990) Japan - 1:53:39.39
4. Andrew Gemmell (1991) U.S.A. - 1:53:40.75
5. Sean Ryan (1992) U.S.A. - 1:53:42.66
6. Radford Kane (1990) New Zealand - 1:53:44.18
7. Christopher Ashwood (1991) Australia - 1:54:06.93
8. Jarrod Killey (1991) Australia - 1:54:26.61
9. Charles Cullom (1991) U.S.A. - 1:54:56.85
10. Yosuke Miyamoto (1990) Japan - 1:54:58.92
11. Harry Stephenson (1992) U.S.A. - 1:55:12.03
12. Matthew Kaminske (1990) U.S.A. - 1:55:12.33
13. Charles Rimkus (1991) U.S.A. - 1:55:43.40
14. George O'Brien (1991) Australia - 1:57:09.11
15. Ramiro Ramirez (1990) Mexico - 2:07:33.11
16. Zack Chetrat (1990) Canada - 2:14:14.95
17. Daijyu Usui (1993) Guam - 2:18:03.14
-- Marco Rivas (1991) Mexico - DNF
-- Craig Dagnall (1990) Canada - DNF

Just like the top British open water swimmers who finaled in pool events before medaling in the Olympic 10K Marathon Swim in Beijing, several open water athletes performed well in the pool just before swimming in the ocean (10K was held in a triangular course in Tumon Bay shown on left).


Belinda Bennett (shown below) finished 4th in the 1500-meter freestyle in 16:36.96 only two days before the 10K. Zsofia Balaza finished 3rd in 16:36.70, Shiori Ogawa was 6th in 16:58.33, Nadine Williams finished 8th in 17:19.40 and Kelly Baird was 10th in 17:12.80.

Andrew Gemmell (11th in the 800-meter in 8:13.82), Sean Ryan (5th in 8:10.93) and Charles Cullom (14th in 8:22.62), all of the U.S.A., also pulled double-duty, swimming the 800 freestyle the day before the 10K in the ocean.

Australia’s national open water swimming coach Greg Towle was excited about Australia’s future talent. "Swimming Australia plans to develop distance swimmers in the pool and in the open water – and to have swimmers coming into open water from the pool and still swimming pool events is very encouraging. Someone like Belinda Bennett, who qualified for the pool team in her own right and then made the open water team is certainly a credit to her and her coach Nick Veliades. Our guys are starting to learn how to swim smarter and that will hold them in good stead for future competitions."

Cross-over athletes…exciting races with furious final sprints…tactical racing…the 2009 Junior Pan Pacific Swimming Championships may have been a preview of the Olympic 10K Marathon Swim in London 2012.

Photo of Ryan Feeley from the Empire State Games by the Rye Record.