Fabulous swim of just over 1500m and 700m, with 127 swimmers taking part in short and long courses. The long course went off to the dolphin, then south to the black yacht by the Richardson St Steps, then back along Rocks Rd.
In the long course, Hayden Squance set off in front in the first leg across to the dolphin, with a tight bunch behind, comprising Oxford Bayley, Luke Kelly, and Abbey Smale. Not too much changed for the rest of the race, with Hayden easing in with a 10 second margin from last Sunday’s Swim the Lighthouse winner and Banana Boat Series leader Oxford, followed by Luke, followed by Abbey, the women’s winner in Wellington and also the Banana Boat Series leader.
The tide was outgoing, with the wind pushing it along and flattening the waves, so conditions were pretty good, although swimmers faced a bit of a current on the return leg from the Richardson St steps.
Kiri Atkin sprung a surprise, finishing fifth in her first Port Nelson swim, with Lucy Barron just holding off Christina Harris in the women’s field.
Dawn Dooley is another newcomer who is rattling the cage, topping the F40-49 field for the second time in only her second swim.
Yet a third newcomer, Paul Crawford, knocked off the rest of the field in M50-59, finishing nearly a minute ahead of Roger Matheson.
Featured image – Lorraine Mellors steps ashore ahead of Eric Wylde.
Here’s the points Any questions/corrections, email petergibbs96@gmail.com
Note that the series points are usually calculated from a swimmer’s best 12 results, providing we swim the full 18 times. As we’ve already had one cancellation, season placings will now be taken on the best 11 swims this year. We’ve now had 11 swims, so all points so far are included, but from next week swimmers who have swum every week will have their lowest score dropped. Swimmers who have done fewer than the required number of swims have six weeks to record their best results. That means (for example) if you’ve done seven swims so far, you need four more of the six remaining. You can check your progress on the points chart (link above)
Here’s a story (little late, sorry)