Boles celebrates open water champs success

Swim Rotorua's David Boles on his way to his debut win over the 5km distance at the New Zealand Open Water Championships in Taupo on the weekend. PHOTO/ KERRY MARSHALL / www.bwmedia.co.nz

Rotorua's David Boles is aiming for a bright future in open water swimming after he claimed his debut win at the New Zealand Open Water Championships in Taupo.

The Swim Rotorua athlete took charge in the men's 5km event on Saturday to win in a time of 1h 00m 52s, while Capital's Ben Ruback finished in second with a swim of 1h 01m 12s and Waterhole's swimmer Sebastien Priscott third in 1h 01m 13s.

Boles, from the same club as five-time New Zealand Open Water champion Kane Radford, was excited to come away with the win ahead of tough competition from his peers.

"It was good fun, there was a lot of good competition, especially Sebastien, and it was just a good race, a hard race though," Boles said. "The plan was to just go hard and do the best I could."

Swim Rotorua assistant coach and Radford's mum Bronwen Radford added: "I coached David when he was 10 till he was 12 so it is fantastic to see him grow and develop as a swimmer. I wasn't particularly surprised with his results as he has strong work ethic, good technique and a desire to learn."

Boles also finished fourth and National Silver in the 16-17 age group in the 10km race, with that contest the first step for athletes to qualify for the FINA World Championships later this year - the top five now able to move forward to the second stage of qualification.

Former John Paul College student Kane, who trains at Perth's Claremont Aquatic Centre was delighted to hear of Boles' win - the sixth year in a row Swim Rotorua have won the 5km title.

"I'm so stoked for Davey [Boles] getting out there and taking out the win and keeping it within the club [Swim Rotorua]," he said.

It's now back to the pool for Boles who is looking to make his mark at the New Zealand Age Group Championships in Wellington in March.

"It's something David should be very proud of," said Bronwen.

"He followed the plan we had come up with to the letter and it's a brilliant major title for him to have.

"For Swim Rotorua this is a great result and if David keeps working hard he's got a very successful future ahead of him. There's some amazing talent coming through at the club and we have a great club spirit right now."

In the women's field Charlotte Webby [Aquabladz New Plymouth] retained her title from last year and completed the double-double after winning the 10km yesterday after claiming both races in 2016.

Webby again proved her dominance coming home in 1h 04m 14s ahead of Sammy Winward [Waterhole, Auckland] in 1h 06m 26s and Stefannie Gillespie [Zenith, Dunedin] in 1h 06m 27s.

"I was thinking I would just go out there and sit with the field and practise sitting on people's feet and then go but I got into race mode and just went for it," Webby said.

2017 New Zealand Open Water Championships results:

Open Water 5km Results:

Men: 1. David Boles (Rotorua) 1:00.52; 2. Ben Ruback (Capital) 1:01.12; 3. Sebastien Priscott (Waterhole) 1:01.13; 4. Jordan Gadsby (Aquabladz New Plymouth) 1:02.36.2; 5. Thomas Raymond (Matamata) 1:03.12.6, 5.

Women: 1. Charlotte Webby (Aquabladz New Plymouth) 1:04.14; 2. Sammy Winward (Waterhole) 1:06.26; 3. Stefannie Gillespie (Zenith) 1:06.27; 4. Talya Harwood (Tasman) 1:06.29; 5. Claudia Ashby (Fairfield) 1:07.06, 5.