1998 NZ Swimrun Champs

Fila New Zealand Swimrun Championships

Stroke & Stride regular Brent Foster showed spectators at the 1998 Fila New Zealand Swimrun Championships that he has still got what it takes to blitz the field. The Auckland surf lifesaver fended off out-of-town and local athletes to take the title of this year’s Swimrun champ in a time of 52 minutes and 51 seconds. And, Heidi Alexander, this year’s Eta Ripple Stroke & Stride Series champion, showed that she is truly unbeatable. She not only surpassed the women’s pack, but also beat home most of the men by coming 17th overall. She was surprised by how well she went as just 13 days prior to the race she completed an Ironman. “I should be flat, but I’m not,” said Heidi, looking slightly bemused.

Many of Brent’s competitors predicted he would be the man to beat in the 2 kilometre swim, but few felt he would prove difficult to catch up to on the 8 kilometre run. Second place getter Kris Gemmell, flown from Christchurch to do his first swimrun event by his sponsor Fila, was quite a distance behind Brent at the finish – 1 minute and 1 second. Taupo athlete Bevan Docherty, who came third, said, “I expected Brent Foster to be up there, but I didn’t expect him to be running that well.” But Brent had faith in himself. “I knew I had a good chance with a long swim, and my running’s improved. I just wasn’t sure about Nathan.” Brent was weary of the threat Nathan Richmond posed as, just two weeks earlier; Nathan had taken from Brent the men’s title in the Eta Ripples Stroke & Stride Series for the first time in five years. Nathan, however, didn’t get close to Brent at all and came fifth. He had a two week break from training and wasn’t too upset about his placing. “I can’t expect anything big coming off a break.” Bryan Rhodes from Taupo pipped Nathan for fourth and Rodney Gordon ran through for sixth. Brent was “stoked” by his win, especially since he lost his Stroke & Stride title this year and he had last won the Swimrun Champs in 1994 although he has always placed in the top three since 1993.

Heather Evans from Wellington proved to be Heidi Alexander’s closest rival. Heather, a strong swimmer, was the first woman out of the water, but Heidi had swum well to exit the water in third place just 38 seconds down and she soon caught Heather on the run. At the finish line Heather was only one minute and 14 seconds behind Heidi but to the bystander it looked as if Heidi was in total control of this event. Regular Stroke & Stride competitors Beverley Chesham, Sue Clark, and Maree Bunce, were third, fourth and fifth respectively and Japanese visitor Misaki Hosoya came sixth.

Luckily for all competitors, the day dawned warm and sunny and by the 7.30 am start time the weather was excellent. Brent Foster shot to the lead at the start of the swim and increased his lead throughout despite going off course at the start of the second lap. Brent’s twin brother Dean was the next best swimmer but was more than a minute behind at the end of the swim and he was followed in by Bryan Rhodes, Nathan Richmond, Bevan Docherty and Kris Gemmell.

The run would truly test the mettle of the athletes: to Kohimarama, back past St Heliers and up Cliff Road, back down to Kohimarama and back again to the finish at St Heliers Bay. Dean Foster’s sore achillies tendon prevented him from holding his position on the run.

Kris Gemmell and Bevan Docherty showed off their powerful running technique and ran stride for stride into second place. Like Brent, Bevan surprised a few with his high placing, but he never doubted his ability. “My running’s going well and I had a good swim. I’ve been concentrating on my endurance lately and I haven’t done much speedwork.”

Results:

Place # Name Age Min Sec

Women
1 14 Heidi Alexander 24 60 15
2 13 Heather Evans 24 61 29
3 23 Beverley Chesham 28 62 57
4 24 Sue Clark 29 64 16
5 32 Maree Bunce 32 65 42
6 26 Misaki Hosoya 29 67 2
7 17 Sione Jongstra 22 67 14
8 46 Tracey Wilson 31 67 51
9 74 Lorene Smith 46 68 48
10 33 Gayle Clark 30 68 58
11 15 Rachael Ball 23 69 2
12 52 Trish Batchelor 35 69 22
13 59 Josie Sinclair 38 71 13
14 6 Louise Bockett 18 71 23
15 67 Margie Peat 41 71 42
16 45 Sophie Percy 30 72 5
17 36 Shelley King 33 73 16
18 35 Susan Hight 32 73 47
19 22 Liz Carr 28 74 21
20 39 Jennifer Queen-Holla 32 74 26
21 68 Deidre Hiller 41 74 41
22 43 Stephanie Mills 30 75 52
23 7 Sarah Dearlove 19 77 4
24 56 Liz Robinson 35 78 7
25 60 Kiki Blincoe 35 78 15
26 40 Adriana Rinaldi 31 78 21
27 75 Maggie Ward 45 78 41
28 34 Cynthia forbes 30 78 52
29 31 Jacquie Bay 33 79 17
30 58 Belinda Hirst 36 80 0
31 66 Isla Nixon 44 80 7
32 53 Donna Macleod 35 80 14
33 80 Tiare Lund 52 81 16
34 41 Natalie Ryken 33 81 42
35 65 Susan Johansson 43 82 2
36 87 Jacky Tasker 56 83 34
37 63 Sheryl Fife 40 83 52
38 55 Maree Neill 39 83 58
39 37 Gerda Kuschel 34 84 7
40 25 Kate Neal 29 84 25
41 57 Trish Wood 38 85 53
42 38 Lynne McLean 33 87 2
43 16 Andrea Palmer 24 87 6
44 64 Liz Hardley 43 89 0
45 86 Glenis King 56 89 18
46 54 Jo Miller 38 90 43
47 93 Judy Barfoot 61 92 36
48 42 Leanne Geach 30 93 0
49 73 Sue Jacobson 47 101 18

Men
1 169 Brent Foster 30 52 51
2 123 Kris Gemmell 20 53 52
3 120 Bevan Dochery 20 54 6
4 150 Bryan Rhodes 25 54 31
5 112 Nathan Richmond 18 55 23
6 187 Rodney Gordon 31 55 32
7 186 Yianni Koutsos 31 56 42
8 146 Mike Johnston 29 57 33
9 170 Dean Foster 30 58 2
10 145 Colin Hill 27 58 38
11 196 Jonathon Counsell 36 58 58
12 200 Ken Hight 36 59 9
13 104 Oliver Tompkins 14 59 34
14 114 Dean Jagusch 19 59 45
15 171 Simon Geach 34 59 48
16 115 Brodie Madgwick 19 59 52
17 116 Ashley Honey 19 60 36
18 223 Paul Dellabarca 40 60 56
19 188 Chris Maund 30 61 18
20 128 Dennis Wakefield 20 61 43
21 109 James Endicott 19 62 5
22 110 Craig Johns 18 62 52
23 125 Kentaro Onishi 24 62 54
24 126 Christopher Rountree 22 63 16
25 253 Alex Newburn 46 63 39
26 105 James Elvery 17 63 45
27 197 Peter Craig 35 63 59
28 251 Rubin Levin 47 64 18
29 149 Dean Rafferty 27 64 41
30 275 Ray Lichtwark 52 64 45
31 232 Mark Van Den Anker 42 65 7
32 256 David Peirce 45 65 28
33 118 Nicholas Child 20 65 31
34 207 Nicholas Wedde 35 65 36
35 177 Tony Meehan 33 65 37
36 229 Gary Scrafton 40 65 39
37 238 John Friary 46 65 59
38 179 Terry Robinson 34 66 4
39 228 John Moyes 44 66 6
40 222 Paul David 41 66 53
41 198 Peter Eising 38 66 59
42 178 Stuart Neal 30 67 36
43 249 Alan Fletcher 46 68 6
44 272 John Brodie 51 68 18
45 152 Richard Trass 28 69 10
46 142 Steven Finlayson 25 69 14
47 273 Murray Glen 52 69 20
48 255 Craig Paterson 45 69 28
49 168 Richard Conyngham 30 69 42
50 175 Doug McLeod 33 69 48
51 274 Ash Harding 54 69 54
52 182 Gustav Tijsen 34 70 0
53 151 Quentin Smith 25 70 12
54 295 Keith Pearce 61 70 29
55 201 John Hunter 38 70 45
56 285 Alex Shaw 58 71 32
57 113 Brent Renyard 19 71 39
58 143 Bevan Fleming 25 71 48
59 234 Dave Wood 41 71 52
60 167 Peter Clark 32 71 58
61 174 Andrew McKay 33 72 19
62 204 David Lockhart 36 72 23
63 147 Robert Mills 25 72 32
64 231 Peter Thomas 43 72 35
65 181 Danny Steinemann 34 72 39
66 208 Jack Wolken 39 72 43
67 206 Kim Richardson 37 72 45
68 154 Scott Hine 25 72 52
69 189 Rohan Lord 33 73 6
70 220 Paul Buchanan 43 73 7
71 111 Brett Johnson 19 73 17
72 226 Paul McIntosh 40 73 25
73 172 Russ Hamilton 33 73 53
74 153 Toshiya Tsuboi 27 73 54
75 103 Jono Reeves 14 74 10
76 224 Marty Finch 42 74 24
77 180 Mark Ross 32 74 43
78 237 Mike Adair 43 74 45
79 225 Milton Jennings 40 74 55
80 102 Joshua Heenan 14 74 58
81 230 Graham Shieff 40 75 1
82 227 Stuart McIntosh 44 75 26
83 185 Boyd Wason 34 75 36
84 233 Chris Vincent 40 75 39
85 271 Donald Alexander 54 75 56
86 219 Alan Bradbury 40 76 11
87 221 Rob Cattley 41 76 18
88 260 Robert Wilshire 45 76 23
89 166 James Clark 33 76 28
90 139 Mike Dance 26 76 46
91 236 Kevin Luckie 43 77 23
92 210 Michael Carden 39 77 33
93 141 Tim Fairgray 27 77 51
94 286 Desmond Vercoe 59 77 57
95 259 Rob Wills 48 78 2
96 282 Allan Bridge 56 78 12
97 284 Michael Meekings 57 78 26
98 203 Roger Levie 39 78 58
99 246 Paul Berry 46 79 12
100 248 Roger Donald 45 79 21
101 252 Andrew McGregor 46 79 39
102 144 Tim Hamilton 29 79 53
103 254 Glynn Owens 47 80 8
104 293 Alec Hill 64 80 31
105 173 Craig Leth 31 81 2
106 205 Stephen Moorehead 37 81 4
107 130 Thomas Farr 23 81 31
108 283 Ken Kelsey 57 82 8
109 184 Graeme Wheeler 33 82 21
110 195 Dene Biddlecombe 38 83 19
111 199 Martin Girling 39 85 10
112 296 Laurie Wesley 61 85 19
113 292 Garth Barfoot 61 85 36
114 129 Peter Dennis 24 86 35
115 211 Michael Nightingale 39 86 38
116 209 Duncan McLay 35 88 56
117 165 Christopher Bishop 34 89 30
118 294 Peter Morley 63 90 48
119 277 Neville Boyd 50 91 5
120 257 Alan Reeves 49 91 22
121 235 Richard Woods 42 92 40
122 250 Jim Gallagher 45 96 2