Neoprene lovers of Nelson (and beyond) unite! as our last blast of summer is upon us and we have that one last chance to grab a whole years’ worth of smug bragging rights over our colleagues, work friends, family, and random stranger foolish enough to make eye contact at the supermarket! Race 17 is our last swim and if you missed the plethora (that means a lot!) of emails of where it starts, then you might just be thrown in a boat and pushed off into the wild blue yonder! As for the salty sea dogs who survived Race 16, congratulations and please check your fingers and toes as some were found left behind after the race.
Race 16 was not planned to be at the lowest astronomical tide, but given our organisational teams’ deep spiritual commitment to chaos, they scheduled it for the precise moment when the harbour turned into a mudflat with trust issues, hence why your wetsuit (or togs) needed extra washing after the race – that smell is ‘character’, apparently. Clearly alcohol has become part of the course design discussions as the long course and the short course looked more like Egyptian hieroglyphs than race courses, perhaps the design team were trying to send messages to the stars. None-the-less, 110 of you decided to give it a crack and navigate through the previously unseen delights of the Nelson harbour bottom. Thanks again to our trusty volunteers who are always giving of their time so you can pick fights with your family and friends, and our near god-like sponsors Rylock who share their hard earned cash so we can thrash about in seawater for about 20 minutes every Thursday night.
If you got lost on the triangular 500m short course, you might have more than just an inner ear problem and should seek medical advice. Untroubled by such issues, but receiving a slight assist from air bubbles in rubber, was Keshia Linyard blitzing around the course in a stunning time of 7:23.0, I sure she was running most of the way. Close behind was her male compatriot Dave Taylor, nobly crawling out of the water in a time of 8:41.3. In the naturalist division it was a two horse race, obviously 19 degrees is too cold for most short coursers, Anna Symms dominated completing the course in 10:54.7 with Dougal Sheridan close behind in 11:36.9.
If you got lost on Brendon’s 1200m ‘ode to Italy’, you could ‘ve be forgiven. That thing had more angles than ACC paperwork. Fortunately, our volunteers were on hand to push you in the right directions with their paddles. Some volunteers may have been more exuberant than others (only minor concussions received) but that will be discussed at the next volunteers meeting under ‘gentle guidance vs full contact support’. Our long course wetsuit lovers division attracted 81 swimmers all vying for precious points. Tegen Steward ultimately taking the win in a tight dash for the line with a large group of contenders in a time of 15:47.5 with Sam Trass only centimetres behind in 15:50.5. Don’t ask me how he did it but James Boocock, just in his tidy white-ty’s, was also in this bunch in a time of 15:49.1! Frig that boy is fast! The other contender in the non-neoprene appreciation class was Altan Ni Mhurchu, in a much more respectable time of 22:50.7.
Huge congratulations to all our class winners, and to everyone else who didn’t get lost, injured, or emotionally scarred by the mud. We hope you all can squeeze out one more burst of speed for the last race this coming Thursday. A quick check of the tides tells me that you won’t be belly scrapping the bottom of the harbour next week but may have to contend with a head wind on the way home. Take care and we’ll see you next week and remember – chaffing is just our body’s way of saying – you’re not as streamlined as you think you are!
