Race #39

A gentle onshore breeze and an out going tide created a slight chop to again make swimming conditions interesting for competitors in Race #3 of the Series.  With a big 1000 metre swim and only a 3 km run in front of them it was crucial for competitors to have a good swim if they wanted to feature in the results.

First away was the Men’s field and once again Brent Foster managed to open up a good lead over the competition to exit the water with a 25 second advantage over some excellent swimmers including John Munro, Malcolm McGregor and David Lee. Out onto the flat out and back run course Brent Foster didn’t take his foot off the accelerator going on to win by 36 seconds from David Lee.  William Smith made up ground on the run to take third ahead of Malcolm McGregor with Mike Johnston in fifth place.

The big surprise of the evening was when the leading women exited the water.  For once it wasn’t Marisa Pentecost or Megan Dalton or Louise Soper out in front.  While these three were locked in their own battle for third place, top Auckland pool swimmers Jo Craddock and Stacey Bodger were exiting the water with a handy 40 second lead over the rest of the women’s field.  Once out on the run course it was all Megan Dalton and Marisa Pentecost as they raced to the head of the field.  Both Megan and Marisa have been Series Champions over past seasons and with 200 metres to go they were neck and neck before Megan puts in a final kick to go onto win by 5 seconds.  Jo Craddock hangs onto third place and Heidi Alexander manages to run through for fourth ahead of Louise Soper.