It wasn’t just the sea that was agitated, there was also a fair amount of churn in the starting lineup, as faces from the recent and more distant past appeared in the waters of Nelson Harbour on Thursday.
There are no easy swims and no chance to take things for granted for those at the head of the field.
Finella Gibbs-Beal was a very young swimmer when she competed in the short course swims six or seven years ago. Now she’s a fully fledged open water and pool swimmer who competes for Australia and has times of less than 30 seconds for 50m and right on a minute for 100m.
It’s no wonder she caught Terry Bone napping, although the series leader did well to stick on Finella’s toes and finish a second behind her in a short, choppy swim.
In doing so, Terry reversed the head-to-head results with Marlborough triathlete Gus Marfell from two weeks ago. This time, Gus followed Terry in, taking third place ahead of 14-year-old Marcel Kepess, who looks more threatening every time he swims.
Austen Dean came home from Wellington for Christmas and, as always, wasn’t far from the action, taking fifth.
Ben Marshall delivered an upset to Hamish Neill, while a non-wetsuited William Seymour once more transferred his pool prowess into open water.
Eddie Swain always flies just below the radar, but not that far below, as his fourth place ranking so far this season shows his consistency. Last night he was right up there in ninth place, a touch ahead of the women’s season leader Lilly Claridge.
Close behind in the field, were Keshia Linyard, Sophie Pahl, Nia Linyard, Christina Harris, Megan Begg and Fran Harris.
Liliana Perrett has dominated the short course event all season, ahead of Rob Sheridan, who swims without a wetsuit. Last week, Rob got dressed up and snaffled his first victory. Lest he get complacent, when he showed his hairy chest again on Thursday Liliana once more had his measure, winning by a comfortable 11 seconds.
Story on Sportzhub, by Peter Gibbs