Kerikeri star ready for King hit

An accomplished local swimming athlete is currently in training as he prepares to take on the 1km distance at the King of the Bays swim on Auckland's North Shore later this month.

While Alexander Goldsack lives with an intellectual disability, he refuses to let that get in the way of his favourite activity of swimming, said his mother Rolien. However, swimming didn't initially come easy for her 20-year-old son, she explained.

"Alex nearly drowned at the age of 5 so we realised he needed to learn how to swim, because he loved the water. It took seven years for Alex to learn properly how to swim but now he's just loving it!"

An accomplished swimmer having competed as part of the Special Olympics Bay of Islands team, Goldsack trains once a week with his team and gained one gold and two bronze medals at the nationals in Dunedin last year.

Rolien put much of her son's remarkable progress down to the persistence of his coach Karen Markin, a well known swimming coach in the Bay of Islands. A major influence in Alex's life, Markin is the person responsible for getting Alex interested in the State NZ Ocean Swim Series (having herself done the Russell to Paihia leg of the series every year since it began).

"She's done the 1000m swim with Alex twice and once he did that first swim he was hooked," said Rolien, noting Alex swam 1000m on his own for the first time in December in preparation for the King Of The Bays event.

"He came out with a big grin, and said 'I've done it!' He's getting better and better, it's a huge accomplishment for him."

Rolien says swimming is "very, very, very" important to Alex and not just for the fun of it: "If he stops swimming for a while, his speech and mobility deteriorates so it definitely helps him that way. He makes new friends swimming, it's been really good for him."

Scott Rice, State NZ Ocean Swim Series event director, described Alex as a true inspiration to others, and wished him well in his training for the King of the Bays on April 12, the final event of the six-race State NZ Ocean Swim Series. Organisers were expecting over 1600 swimmers to take part.

Additional reporting by Lisa Powlesland (State Ocean Swim Series)