Swimmers flood first Swimming Northland open water event in seven years at Kai Iwi Lakes

Fun in the sun. (L-R) Lani Fairbairn, Eliot Williams, Sean Simons, Brayden Smith, Bailie Schick, Matty Douglas. Photo / Supplied

Swimmers came from far and wide to attend Northland's first open water swimming championship in seven years at Kai Iwi Lakes.

Image 1 of 8: Swimming Northland officials (L-R) Gavin Carroll, Dawn Dutton and Rachel Matenga watch over the eager swimmers. Photo / Supplied

About 120 swimmers took the plunge on Saturday with most coming from Northland and Auckland, but also from as far afield as Hastings and Mt Maunganui.

Meet director and event organiser Ross Gillespie said he was keen to revive the open water event and give swimmers an opportunity to try a different type of swimming.

"With open water you have to deal with chop and swell – although there wasn't any chop last weekend – and you have to navigate from one end of the course to the other.

"You don't have a wall to push off every 25m or 50m like you do in a pool, and it suits some people better than others."

He said despite most of the swimmers and officials having had no open water experience, the event ran smoothly and apart from a few tweaks, will require little change to run again.

The event would hopefully be held again next year, which drew quite a response when it was announced at prizegiving.

"There was a big cheer from the crowd," Gillespie said.

"I've been getting emails every day from people thanking us for having it and saying they'll definitely be back next time, and how good it is to see a region reviving open water swimming."

Many regions no longer held open water events, as health and safety regulations had made it more difficult and it was hard to find a gap in the swimming calendar to hold one.

Medals were awarded to the male and female winners of three age groups (13-14 years, 15-16 years, 17 and over) of each of the championship distances – 2.5km, 5km and 10km. The overall male and female trophy winners, taken from the 5km championship race, were Quin Walden and Emilia Finer.

Gillespie said the entry fee of $30 was deliberately kept low to make the event affordable for families.

Ruakaka Surf Life Saving Patrol members helped with water safety at the event and Te Kopuru Fire Brigade and Dargaville Fire Brigade volunteers were on hand to help with first aid, along with a doctor and nurse.

Experienced FINA (global swimming governing body) open water referee Paul Matson from Wellington was chief referee. He said he enjoyed himself so much that he planned to return next year to help. Other SNZ technical officials with open water experience came to help on the day, assisted by officials from Northland clubs.

Gillespie said some of the younger swimmers were quite nervous before their 100m and 200m swims, but they really loved it once they had finished.

"They had big smiles on their faces and were cheering other swimmers on."