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Swimmer puts in double the effort for Rottnest Channel Swim

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Josh ZimmermanMelville Gazette

SOLOMON Wright is an accomplished 10km swimmer but had never tackled double that distance until last month’s Rottnest Channel Swim.

That did not stop the former Fremantle CBC student from crossing in 4 hours 30 minutes 1 second to claim second in the Champions of the Channel category.

Wright was raised in Bicton and is studying at Bond University on the Gold Coast, but returned to WA to take on the iconic open ocean event after finishing seventh in the 10km event at the Australian National Championships in January.

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“Nationals was a month beforehand so I was in pretty good shape and just kept up my training from that,” he said.

“I was pretty anxious the morning of the swim, not so much about the distance but more worried about how fast the other swimmers would be.

“I was aiming for four hours and 30 minutes and ended up coming in one second over that, so I was pretty happy.”

The only swimmer to beat Wright was Rio Olympian Jarrod Poort, who completed the crossing in 4:12.21.

“I was within a few 100m of Jarrod for the first 5km or so but then he broke away and extended the gap,” Wright said.

The 20-year-old competes for Miami Swimming Club in Queensland and hopes to one day represent Australia at the Olympic Games.

He said he had learnt a lot from his first Rottnest crossing.

“The first 10km was nice and easy because that’s what I’m used to, but I did start to get a bit cold in the second half of the race,” he said.

“I probably got my pacing a bit wrong – I went too hard during the beginning and middle stages and so I was pretty drained by the end.”

Wright said he would consider returning for next year’s event as part of a duo or team.