Reesby & Company Stroke & Stride Series

Stroke & Stride Series PO Box 10122 Auckland 1030 stroke@stride.co.nz www.stride.co.nz Ph +64 9 8157107 or 021 679289 Fax +64 9 8157117

Race #1 8 November 1999
St Heliers Bay Auckland New Zealand

Race Report
The first race in the season’s Stroke & Stride Series supposedly signifies the start of summer but over the past couple of seasons the first race has more closely resembled the final day of winter. The forecast for this season’s Reesby & Company Stroke & Stride opener was for gale force winds but fortunately these were not apparent in the sheltered bay of St Heliers however it was cold and for the few that braved the swim without wearing a wetsuit it was a chilly start to the season. While the temperatures may have been on the cool side, one thing that was hot was the caliber of the field lined up to start as they chased the $20,000 in Prize Money on offer.

The women’s field were started first and although the swim is only 500 metres for this race, Caroline Collard wasn’t waiting around for company and by the half way point had opened up a 10 second lead over the chasing pack. The cold water didn’t slow down the times and Caroline recorded a sizzling 5min 59sec running back up the beach followed by Rebecca Nesbit and Anna Cleaver now more than 20 seconds behind. Out onto the run and it was Evelyn Williamson who moved to the front of the field closely followed by Jo Lawn and with Nicole Cope also gaining ground with every step. It was Nicole Cope who won the opening race last season and she repeated the victory this year, over coming her 7min 45sec swim to just head off Evelyn Williamson who in turn only just kept her nose in front of Jo Lawn at the line.

Defending Series Champion, Brent Foster would have preferred the swim to be longer and the conditions to be rougher to give him more of a chance to put some distance on his rivals in the men’s field. The 500 metres proved enough for him to lead the classy field by swims end but the lead was only a matter of seconds and with a slow transition thrown in, Brent really had his work cut out over the 5 kilometres. Someone who had made short work of the swim was Paul Amey and with his always stellar run it wasn’t long before he was leading the field on the run to Mission Bay and return. This lead only got bigger as he burned up the kilometers to take his first win in a Stroke & Stride since 1997. Brent Foster wasn’t going to let anyone else get past him and held on for second ahead of another classy runner in Liam Scopes.

The next race is Wednesday, November 22, 2000.

Results
Female
1 Nicole Cope 25m 44s
2 Evelyn Williamson 25 47
3 Jo Lawn 25 48
4 Fiona Docherty 26 04
5 Debbie Tanner 26 18
6 Tanya Lee-Parker 26 42
7 Heidi Alexander 26 50
8 Vanessa Palmer 27 04
9 Nicola de Lautour 27 38
10 Sue Clark 27 50
11 Caroline Collard 27 53
12 Yoko Hori 28 05
13 Udi-Ann Delport 28 14
14 Gayle Clark 28 37
15 Anna Cleaver 28 45

Male
1 Paul Amey 21m 31
2 Brent Foster 22 30
3 Liam Scopes 22 52
4 Terenzo Bozzone 23 15
5 Rodney Gordon 23 27
6 Malcolm McGregor 23 29
7 Kieran Doe 23 35
8 James Elvery 23 42
9 Steven Nicholls 23 44
10 Ashley Lake 24 02
11 Roy Warren 24 28
12 Bryan Rhodes 24 33
13 Stuart Blake 24 58
14 Henry Barfoot 25 06
15 Brett Piskulic 25 36

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