Isn’t it great. Another wonderful swim – a bit rough on the return, but nothing to bother our intrepid swimmers.
Here’s the results – these are the third set, so if you’ve been scratching your head earlier, scratch no more – these are right.
In a rare moment of cosmic justice, tonight’s winner Hayden Squance is also the winner of the chance to be in the draw for the Samoa Swim Series. Just one more person will be chosen for the draw (let it be me please), next week. Although we earlier stated that those in the draw must be present on the final night to receive the prize, we’ve since had two pleas to be excused from being there, but to stay in the draw, one because of the wedding of a close friend, the other because of competition around the country. The Samoa swim prize is huge and we don’t feel anyone should miss out if they have good reason not to be present. Accordingly, we’re changing the rules. If anyone who is in the draw is prevented from being present and they let us know in advance, they’ll still be good to pack their bags and head for Samoa. But first they have to win the prize.
Featured swimmer this week is John Hellemans. With a house in Golden Bay, John is now a local, but he’s also a multiple world triathlon age group champion, having won in nearly every age group there is. Even in his 40s, John was racing internationally as an elite triathlete and placing in the top ten. A doctor and coach, John has had the skills to mentor such triathletes as the great Erin Baker and more recently was based in Nelson with the Dutch team over the summer a couple of seasons ago. It’s wonderful to see some fabulous competitors in Nelson, although it’s with quiet pride in our regular competitors to report that John couldn’t quite smash the M60-69 field tonight, that honour going to our multiple world swim champion Ben Van Dyke, who placed 6th overall.
Here’s some photos, by Anna Perkins