Race #69

At the first race in the Stroke & Stride Series it is typical for a lot of air to be blowing around.  You have your rivals from past seasons blowing hot air about how hard they’ve trained, how much they’ve improved and how they’re going to kick butt this season.  And it’s also typical for Auckland to be copping a breezy blast from the last of spring’s meteorological offerings.

This time however the first race in the 1998/99 Stroke & Stride Series got off to a fine start with fine weather and some fine racing being the order of the day.  The mild temperatures experienced by Auckland over winter resulted in the seas off St Heliers Bay being uncommonly warm for so early in the season.  With the easterly breeze being nicely blocked by the cliffs of Ladies Bay and the sun shining on the sparkling waters of the Waitemata Harbour, Auckland had turned on a great day for the Stroke & Stride competitors.

The deadly accurate 500 metre swim was no obstacle to former Series Champion Marisa Pentecost as she blitzed the swim course and entered the transition with a handy lead on her rivals in the women’s field.  Reigning Stroke & Stride Champion and New Zealand Swim/Run Champion Heidi Alexander trailed Marisa by 40 seconds after the swim but the 5 kilometre run was again where Heidi turned up the heat and assumed her favoured position of first place.  Also running hot was Nicole Cope who actually recorded a faster run split than Heidi but at the line was still six seconds behind and had to settle for second place.

Another former Series Champion ready to race this season was Debbie Tanner who combined a fine swim with an excellent run leg to overhaul Marisa Pentecost for third.  Perennial crowd favourite Sue Clark claimed fourth place just ahead of Nicola de Lautour.

When referring to the men’s field we don’t often get to label too many of the men as former Series Champions.  The number one reason for this is Brent Foster who along with all his international swimming and surf life saving titles, has also found the time to win the Stroke & Stride Series five times.

As the men’s field lined up on the beach for the start of Race #1 Brent was again the man to beat and some of the younger competitors were keen to show that this was to be their season.  Sorry, not this time guys.  When you record the fastest swim split, combine that with the fastest run split and have your usual lightening quick transition it makes it very difficult, some would say damn near impossible for anyone to beat you.

Of course that’s exactly what Brent had planned and that plan was executed to perfection at this event.  Rodney Gordon was hoping that the short swim, long run combination of Race #1 would work in his favour and it did except for the fact that Brent Foster was in attendance and Rodney was racing for second.  Rodney’s stellar run split grabbed him second just ahead of another flying youngster Richard Harding, having his best ever finish in third.  Paul Angland would also be pleased with his fourth place finish holding out the unstoppable, Will Green.