Another glorious evening in our little part of paradise with 116 swimmers choosing to give up their precious evening hours to showcase their athletic prowess, and/or secure another week of bragging rights in the workplace. The water temperature was a bracing 19 degrees celcius (source: Brendon’s $10 warehouse pool thermometer) and yet 20 swimmers deciding against sanity and swimming without a wetsuit (for those not in the know, allegedly buoyancy shorts are classified as a wetsuit even if you call them incontinence pants!). A big thanks to Rylock Windows & Doors for their sponsorship and all our volunteers for keeping us safe.
On the allegedly 900m long course (Grahams GPS may have been a bit dodgy), Lucas Bell showed blistering speed being the first male across the line in a time of 9:55.4 and Tegen Stewart being the first female hot on his heals in a time of 10.51.1. To show how the fear of hypothermia can be a strong form of motivation, James Boocock was first across the finish line without a wetsuit in a time of 11:22.0 with Francesca Harris (first non-wetsuit female) close behind on 13:25.3. Both were checked by St John and only had minor frost bite injuries.
The ‘s’ in short course was for speed with our first male, Ardan Warner (our 12 year old version of aquaman), completing the 300 meters in a time of 6:24.5 and Arabella Brosnan (first female) 20 seconds behind. Only three were brave enough to complete the short course without wetsuits with Rodney Hansen being first male and Pamela Olmedo-Rojas being the first female. Ka pai hoki korua! (good on you two!)
Its only the start of the season but already old rivalries are beginning to show. Can’t wait to see how the points begin to stack up over the next couple of weeks. Keep a look out for the photos which will be out shortly and see you next Thursday.