Stroke & Stride Race #4

Reesby & Company

Stroke & Stride Race #4 22 January 2008

Mission Bay ­ Auckland ­ New Zealand

RACE REPORT The first race of the New Year rode into town on the back of tropical cyclone Funa. Fortunately Funa had departed Auckland before the evening start time leaving us with just a boisterous wind blowing down the harbour perpendicular to the Mission Bay coastline. After the atrocious earlier conditions we were more than happy with a breeze and a large helping of summer sun for the fourth Reesby & Company sponsored Stroke & Stride. The 1000 metre swim course was set in such a way that it was as close to user friendly as possible missing out any legs head-on into the aforementioned breeze and the accompanying one metre chop.

Once out on the road the 3 kilometre out and back run to Kohimarama presented competitors with a swift, almost downhill first half with the wind at their backs. Then the hard work started with the wind in your face all the way back along the exposed waterfront to the finish line.

It was the men¹s field starting first and from the shore we could see a wide spread of men closing on the first turn buoy, then some order was apparent as they continued around the course with a group of three at the head of the field. On the final leg into the shore one swimmer broke away from his companions hitting the sand first in a time of 11 minutes and 12 seconds and if you guessed that it was the aquatic wonder Brent Foster then you¹re absolutely right. A dozen seconds further back came Dylan McNeice and Tony Dodds and then there was more than 20 seconds ticked over on the clock before the big chasing bunch commenced their arrival back on the beach.

Meanwhile ten minutes later in the second wave containing the women¹s field after their 1000 metre swim it was Kirsty Wannan and Teresa Adam leading the way having broken free from their pursuers. Clocking 13 minutes 15 seconds for the swim and more than 50 metres ahead of the rest they made short work of the transition and were soon onto the run.

Tony Dodds dug deep on the early stages of the run to bridge the gap up to Brent Foster and be challenging for the lead as they came back into view 500 metres from the finish. They were still shoulder-to-shoulder when they launched themselves onto the sand for the final punishing sprint. As the crowd goes wild Brent Foster finds another gear and get his head in front to take the win by the smallest of margins. Tony Dodds is denied his second win of the summer by just a second however still banks valuable points. Clark Ellice returns to Stroke & Stride with a fine third placing getting ahead of Dylan McNeice out on the run course with Andrew Curtayne claiming fifth place.

The mix of distances in this event is biased towards the swimmers however for the women¹s field it was a blistering run leg that made the difference. At the end of the swim Sophie Corbidge was handily placed but not threatening the lead. Three kilometers of running later and Sophie Corbidge had blown past all in front of her to claim her second victory for the season. Simone Ackermann matched her result from Race #2 with another fine second place today finishing seconds ahead of Kirsty Wannan. Defending Series Champion Carmel Hanly scored more important points in the defence of her title with fourth place ahead of the ever-improving Teresa Adam in fifth.

Half way through the eight race Series we have a run away leader in front of the men¹s field while it is starting to look like a traffic jam at the head of the women¹s event. Sophie Corbidge has a whole one point advantage over Kirsty Wannan with Carmel Hanly looming just a few points further back.

The next event is on Tuesday, February 5th 2008 and further information can be found at swimrun,org

RESULTS

Male 1 Brent Foster 21m 37s 2 Tony Dodds 21m 38s 3 Clark Ellice 22m 05s 4 Dylan McNeice 22m 37s 5 Andrew Curtayne 22m 48s 6 James Elvery 22m 51s 7 Ben Visser 22m 58s 8 Will Green 23m 05s 9 Tom Moyes 23m 08s 10 Daniel Halksworth GBR 23m 16s

Female 1 Sophie Corbidge 25m 38s 2 Simone Ackermann 25m 47s 3 Kirsty Wannan 25m 54s 4 Carmel Hanly 26m 00s 5 Teresa Adam 26m 19s 6 Julia Scopes 27m 10s 7 Marisa Carter 27m 20s 8 Rebecca Clarke 27m 26s 9 Belinda Harper 27m 51s 10 Nicole Silver 28m 05s

GRAND PRIX POINTS

Female 1 Sophie Corbidge 55 2 Kirsty Wannan 54 3 Carmel Hanly 50 4 Julia Scopes 40 5 Simone Ackermann 34 6 Teresa Adam 32 7T Jacqui Seebold 25 7T Nicole Silver 25 9 Belinda Harper 21 10 Nicky Samuels 20

Male 1 Brent Foster 75 2 Tony Dodds 54 3 James Elvery 49 4 Liam Scopes 43 5 Will Green 41 6T Lee Greer 27 6T Dylan McNeice 27 8 James Upton 26 9 Ryan Sissons 16 10T Clark Ellice 15 10T Michael Poole 15

ENDS

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