Tauranga swimmer Nathan Capp has been crowned the men's winner at Saturday's Christchurch Crown event, alongside fellow New Zealand Ocean Swim Series participant Stefannie Gillespie.

Elite winners of the Christchurch Crown, Tauranga's Nathan Capp and Stefannie Gillespie. Photo: Julia Johnston.

A total of 720 registered participants took the plunge across multiple swim distances, with Nathan and Stefannie winning the 3.3km swim in 33.54 minutes and 37.24 minutes respectively.

Other top performers in the 3.3km ‘I'm Going Long' swim included Liam Thomson, Angus Syme, Sammy Winward and Samantha Harnett, who finished second and third in their male and female age groups, respectively.

New Zealand Ocean Swim Series event organiser Scott Rice congratulates Nathan and Stefannie on their wins.

'Both swimmers are known for their prowess in the water, with Nathan having taken out the top spot in our series last year.”

Nathan, who is a multi-NZ record holder, took a commanding lead right from the start and won the swim convincingly.

Stefannie, from Christchurch, won the Akaroa swim last year, making her a back to back champion and competition favourite.

'Both swimmers are serious contenders and I'm sure we will only see more of their success as the series goes on,” says Scott.

'We had fantastic weather conditions for the swim, with flat calm water, cloud cover and no wind.

'There was also a bit of tidal assistance for the swimmers which helped get us some very fast swim times. It has been a very successful return to Corsair Bay.”

The Christchurch Crown 2016 makes a successful return to Corsair Bay. Photo: Julia Johnston.

The newly named Christchurch Crown signals a return home to Corsair Bay for this popular South Island event after a four-year stint in Akaroa due to the 2011 earthquake. This event will be the fourth in this much loved series of seven events, which caters for swimmers of all skill sets and offers an opportunity for recreational swimmers to take the plunge with some top name swimming elites.

Other distances at the event included; the 300m ‘Give it A Go' distance, the 1km ‘Step It Up' distance and for youngsters (aged under 14) the 200m ‘OceanKids' event.

Saturday also marked the announcement of the six newest members in the Jetstar Super Swim Squad. This special squad is made up of the talented youngsters, aged seven to 13, who win their age group in the OceanKids 200m events from throughout the season and involves attendance at an end of season training camp in Auckland with top NZ swimmers and coaches.

New Jetstar Super Swim Squad members include Emma Mason (Christchurch Central), Hugo Tresfield (Christchurch), Lauryn Collins (Woburn), Oliver Aikawa (Mt Pleasant), Olivia Andrew (St Clair) and Thomas Macgibbon (Westmorland).

The 10th season of the NZ Ocean Swim Series will also see the debut of another exciting event; the Legend of the Lake swim at Rotorua on February 28. Remaining events also include fan-favourites; the Sand to Surf (Mt Maunganui) and the King of the Bays (Auckland).

The charity partner for the New Zealand Ocean Swim Series is Surf Life Saving New Zealand.

For more information or to register for this popular series, visit www.oceanswim.co.nz