Max Coten clinches fourth-straight Albany Harbour Swim victory & Rebekah Weller wins women’s division

Rising open water swimming sensation Max Coten notched four Albany Harbour Swim victories in succession in yet another dominant Easter Saturday display. At the ripe age of 20, Coten was the only swimmer to break the 50-minute mark, crossing the line in a rapid 45min.36sec., just falling 14 seconds shy of the record set by Paul Laver in 2013. Rebekah Weller was the next fastest and the quickest woman on the day finishing in 52:25 while Benjamin Ruett was third with an impressive time of 54:42. Coco Smargiassi finished in 55:33 to claim fourth place, six seconds ahead of David Maggs who rounded out the top five. The 20-year-old Perth-based competitor took immense pride in his accomplishment in a race he marks on his calendar annually, which attracts top talent from across the State. “It’s fantastic and it’s a swim I look forward to every year,” he said. “It’s just a great little Easter tradition and you know with this one in particular, it’s drawn a lot of very high-level and elite swimmers. “It’s always good to come down to Albany and have a bit of a race at the end of the season, it’s a beautiful swim, very well organised and everyone down there is so lovely.” A humble Coten said he drew on his 2018 podium placing as a key learning for his incredible fourth straight victory. “I can’t take all the credit, I was in the right place at the right time with the (tail breeze) conditions,” Coten said. “I remember in 2018 when I came third, Reece Mainstone missed the record by one second because he walked over the finish line. “So I knew going into it I just had to sort of put my head down from the start. “But, it does mean a lot to be able to have won it four times now.” More than 140 swimmers took the plunge at Princess Royal Sailing Club to tackle the annual event run by Albany Surf Life Saving Club which concluded at Anzac Peace Park. Jack Rowe, Tomas Lynch and Adam and Lincoln Large of the Barracuda Boyz finished first out of the quad teams with a time of 1:15.54 and 13-year-old pair Jason Wenbourne and Mitchell Eley-Woodhouse from Team MJ won the duo division with the quickest time of 1:11.03. Sophia Riddell took out the youth category with a time of 1:10.33, Sue Bussell won the wetsuit adult class with 1:05:57 and David and Peter Merrett from Twins on Tour clinched the wetsuit duo victory with a time of 1:13.05.