Rhys Mainstone has taken out the 2013 Australian Open Water Swimming Championships at Lake Macquarie.
Mainstone won the 8-lap 10km event in a commanding time of 1:59:39 to win the race for the third year in a row, and gain selection to the the FINA World Championships in Barcelona to be held in July.
Mainstone’s game plan was evident from the onset, developing a 20 metre lead on his competitors from the second lap.
“My tactic for this race was to go out fairly hard and try and hold my distance against all the other guys. I know I do all the work in training to hold them off, so I just had to maintain my average speed.
I was hurting on that last lap but I just put my head down and went for it,” Mainstone said.
Fellow Perth swimmer Simon Huitenga took silver in a time of 1:54:51 with Jarrod Poort rounding out the podium in 1:55:54.