Race #37

With a gale force south-westerly gusting down the harbour, conditions were far from ideal for the first race in the NutraSport Stroke & Stride Series.  The wind didn’t deter a large number of competitors turning up at St Heliers Bay to do battle over the 500 metre swim and 5 kilometre run.  The swim was over a rectangular course which made for tough going getting out to and around the buoys but then set the swimmers up for a flying final leg with the wind behind them as they rode the steep chop into shore.  The run was out and back along the waterfront to Mission Bay and on the outward journey the runners headed straight into the teeth of the gale.

First away was the women’s field and from early on last season’s Series Series Champion Marisa Pentecost stamped her authority over her competition as she led a high class field including top swimmers Megan Evans and Louise Soper from the water and out onto the run.  Anne Buckley and Heidi Alexander worked hard on the run but couldn’t bridge the gap to the flying Marisa Pentecost who held on to take the first race in the Series by two seconds from Anne Buckley with Heidi Alexander grabbing third ahead of Louise Soper and Leanne Johnson.

With the absence of defending champ Brent Foster, experts were picking Richard Wells as the man to beat as the Men’s field toed the start line.  Despite the determined efforts of some very good swimmers Richard Wells managed to open up an eleven second lead over the chasing pack during the 500 metre swim which gave him the buffer he needed to run home a comfortable looking winner at the end of the run leg.  Not so comfortable looking were Auckland Marathon Champion Mark Hutchinson and Canadian Stefan Jacobson as they sprinted down the beach to dead heat for second place only six seconds behind Richard Wells.  Rodney Gordon and Michael Johnson also recorded excellent splits to take fourth and fifth placings.