4 Nov 1999"Winners: Nicole Cope and Clark Ellice"

  • St Helier's Bay
  • |
  • Swim: 500 metre
  • |
  • Run: 5 kilometre

It is usual for the first race of the season in the Stroke & Stride Series for the water temperature to be the talking point. But for this season’s first race the water temperature was the least of the competitors’ concerns. With the weather man issuing a high wind warning of gale force plus a heavy rain alert as a low pressure system passed over New Zealand, Auckland’s Waitemata Harbour was far from its sparkling best as waves crashed and the spray flew throughout the day.

Fortunately for the hardy souls that fronted up to do battle with their competition and the elements on this stormy afternoon the wind direction was such that the cliffs overlooking St Heliers Bay provided enough shelter for a 500 metre swim course to be set that avoided the full wrath of the elements.

The prevailing conditions for the swim leg may even have been of assistance to the participants as some impressive times were recorded and the occasional swimmer was lucky enough to catch a small wave to body surf the final few metres into the shore. 500 metres is not really long enough to break up the field to any great extent but was still enough to allow Juliet Tompkins to gain a small break over the women’s field when she reached the beach. The men’s field started their race 10 minutes later and it was Chris Williams who lead a stream of men into the transition.

The 5 kilometre run to Mission Bay and return was to prove to be a game of two halves with the first half being lots of fun with a 40 knot wind pushing you towards the turnaround cone. The second half is perhaps not quite so enjoyable as your friendly tailwind just turned into a dastardly headwind and teams up with the salt spray crashing over the sea wall to ensure that the return journey to St Heliers bay is just a bit of a grind.

With a kilometre to go the women’s competition had come down to a three way race. Marisa Carter had been joined in the lead by Heidi Alexander while just behind Nicole Cope had just about erased her 60 second deficit after the swim. As they ran up the beach to the finish line it was Nicole who had got past to take the lead and first place just meters ahead of Heidi and Marisa. Third and fourth placings were also engaged in a ding dong battle over the final kilometre with Kirsty Whiting just out sprinting Debbie Tanner at the finish.

Clark Ellice had worked his way to the head of the men’s field by the run turnaround and showed his strength into the wind on the return extending his lead to start the season with a resounding victory. The win was especially satisfying as this was Clark’s first ever win in a Stroke & Stride. James Morgan and Chris Williams provided the excitement in the men’s race with James holding out Chris by just six seconds at the line. James Elvery is another to show a big improvement from last season getting up for fourth ahead of Steve Nicholls.

It’s not surprising to have lots of new faces on show at the start of the season. What is surprising is the young age of the majority of those faces dominating the season opener. The average age for the top 15 finishers in the women’s field was only 20 years while in the men’s field the average age for the first five across the line was just 18 years.

Male

1

Clark Ellice

22m 19s

2

James Morgan

22 43

3

Chris Williams

22 49

4

James Elvery

23 03

5

Steve Nicholls

23 19

6

Rodney Gordon

23 42

7

Oliver Tompkins

24 18

8

Carl Allen

24 34

9

Tony Hawkes

24 54

10

Paul Sharples

25 00

11

Glen Tasker

25 22

12

Tony Meehan

25 33

13

Oliver Mawson

25 41

14

Brett Piskulic

25 59

15

Adrian Powell

26 05

Female

1

Nicole Cope

24m 34s

2

Heidi Alexander

24 39

3

Marisa Carter

24 50

4

Kirsty Whiting

25 51

5

Debbie Tanner

25 54

6

Josie Sinclair

26 49

7

Anna Cleaver

26 51

8

Julia Scopes

27 02

9

Jade Gilbertson

27 44

10

Louise Thompson

28 12

11

Desiree McCarthy

28 18

12

Juliet Tompkins

28 33

13

Jillian Wood

28 40

14

Anna Elvery

28 46

15

Raelene Keown

29 05

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