A field of 88 started in the first race of three Clements Endurance Series – 85 in the long course over 2km and three in the 600m option.
Alec Swan set the race record of 21.26 in perfect conditions last year. This time round, conditions weren’t as good, with quite a choppy patch in the middle. Nevertheless, Alec set out on a mission, leaving the field behind as he finished in 21.35, just nine seconds outside the record.
Oxford Bayley was next in 22.22, ahead of Nic Hall (22.55) and Abbey Smale (22.57). Hamish Neill was next, the first of the older generation to finish, the 57-year-old stopping the clock at 24.13, ahead of Joe Thornton (25.53), first in M20-29. Brooke Swan is a consistent winner of Thursday’s short swims, but she showed she’s able to handle longer distances easily, the 14-year-old finishing 7th in 25.58, ahead of the third placed woman and F50-59 winner, Christina Harris (26.32).
Denis Cooper (26.52) and Ben Van Dyke (27.07) rounded out the top ten, winning their respective M60-69 and M70+ age groups.
Other age group winners were Corey Tremblay (Men U16) in 29.21, Holly Dunn (F20-29) in 30.00, Natalie Price (F30-39) in 30.19, Daniel Penney (M30-39) in 34.44, Jodie Lovell from Blenheim (F40-49) in 27.42, Jon Linyard (M40-49) in 27.58 and Maggy Johnston (F60+) in 34.00.
Audrey Farreyre won the 600m race from Cheryl De Lange and Josh Donnelly.
The next swim in the Clements series is the Eyebright Mile on Sunday January 10, while the Clements-sponsored Tata Beach swim in Golden Bay will be on January 2 or 3.