OLYMPIC hero Mack Horton has etched his name in history books of south-west Victoria, claiming his second consecutive Shipwreck Coast Swim Series leg victory in Port Fairy.
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Horton, who won Australia’s first swimming gold medal at the Rio de Janeiro Olympic games last year, made the most of a strong start to blaze away from the chasing pack in the win.
Horton’s family – originally from Melbourne’s south-east – travels west each year for the festive period.
The 20-year-old said his second consecutive victory in the Port Fairy leg of the series was “for a bit of fun” but admitted he was thrilled to take top honours in the 1.2 kilometre swim.
“It was fairly cold out there because I forgot the wetsuit, but it’s a good little swim to have as the first of the year,” Horton told The Standard.
“It was a lot nicer out there than last year, we were dealing with two or three metre waves. I couldn’t see the buoys at all. It was nice and flat this year, just a little cool.”
Horton said the Port Fairy event was one of three ocean swimming events he planned to tackle in the new year, with the bulk of his time consumed by pool training.
He said he was planning to take on Lorne’s Pier to Pub swim before he resumed training with coach Craig Jackson.
“Ocean swimming forces you to change your strokes a little bit. My strokes are suited to the pool, where you know where the water is going to go,” he said.
“In the ocean, where there are waves and chops, it’s a little more difficult.
“An Olympic-level ocean swimmer would easily beat me at something like this, but I just go out there and do what I can.”
Melbourne-based teenager Hamish Rowland, who landed on East Beach just moments after Horton, was the fastest junior swimmer and said he was rapt to cross the line second to the Olympic gold medallist.
Rowland, the overall winner of last year’s Shipwreck Coast Swim Series, said he was vying to make it back-to-back victories.
“It was good, it just showed I was fit and able swim so I was pretty happy with how it went overall,” he said.
“I’m a competitive swimmer back in Melbourne. Hands down, the conditions affect your ocean swimming. It’s the luck of the draw because the conditions can be easy to work with or terrible.”
The second leg of the series, which is slotted for Warrnambool’s main beach, will take place on January 15.
The Port Campbell leg will take place on January 21.
