Mile Swim Win for Nederpelt

WAIS swimmer Travis Nederpelt claimed victory in the Fran Crippen Memorial Mile Swim in Fort Lauderdale, Florida last weekend.

Dual Olympian Travis Nederpelt went toe to toe with USA’s Olympic gold medallist and freestylesuper-fish Peter Vanderkaay with the City of Perth club member claiming victory in a dash to the line.

Nederpelt and Vanderkaay were followed home by their fast finishing training partners, Connor for the USA and rising open water star Simon Huitenga (City of Perth) for Australia in fourth.

Both Nederpelt and Huitenga started strong but were quickly joined by the USA pair before the four broke away and created their own race, battling all the way to the line.

It was a sweet victory for Nederpelt who controlled the race from start to finish while for Huitenga the opportunity to race some of the best swimmers in the world provided solice for falling one place short of a medal.

The mile swim played prelim to the main event, the 10km Invitational Marathon in memory of Fran Crippen, an American swimmer who tragically drowned while taking part in the FINA World Marathon Cup in Dubai last year.

WAIS scholarship holder Rhys Mainstone led a strong field through most of the race yet it was the USA who claimed the first three medal positions with Australia’s Ky Hurst finishing in fourth and Mainstone a few strokes off the pace in seventh.

In the corresponding women’s event it was Australia’s Melissa Gorman who took line honours ahead of a pack of five US swimmers.