Squance takes sixth title in anniversary swim

The Eyebright Mile is a Nelson tradition dating back to January 1986. The 40th edition of the 2km race from the Nelson Yacht Club to Tāhuna Beach was held on Sunday.

A blanket could have covered the leaders at the finish.

Hayden Squance has a record of five previous wins, dating back to 2015, so it was appropriate that he held off Connor Kemp, a rising triathlon star out of St Patrick’s College in Wellington, by a margin of four seconds.

Hot on their heels, Ben Marshall stood to make his run up the beach with Oxford Bayley stalking his every move.

In the end, it was Oxford, home from his New York swim scholarship after an absence of three years, who sprinted ahead, finishing two seconds behind Connor and two seconds ahead of Ben.

Tom Somerville and Fraser Neill were next. Tom is an accomplished triathlete and coach from Christchurch, showing good form after finishing second in the regular Nelson series three days ago.

Winner of the race in 2010, Fraser showed his form by finishing sixth in spite of a lack of recent training.

Members of the Lovell family from Blenheim are regular contenders in Nelson swims. Nicola, 15, had her first big win here as she led the women’s field to finish seventh overall, ahead of Fraser’s father, 61-year-old Hamish and the second woman, Nia Linyard, 14.

Nia is going from strength to strength in swims this summer and this is her best result yet.

Further back in the field, there were narrow margins between Lilly Claridge, Carys McNabb and Christina Harris as they fought for the minor placings.

Christina is almost a mythological figure among swimmers, the 61-year-old known for ultra-distance events and her continual good form against frisky teenagers.

At the prizegiving that followed the event, Peter Owen of the Nelson company Eyebright, reminisced about the early days, along with his mate Phil Howes. The pair were instrumental in kicking off sea swimming in Nelson on a competitive basis.

This antique writer had the honour of being the only swimmer present who took part in that 1986 race, but this year struggled to finish 102nd of the 128 finishers.

A small group chose a shorter option of 1300m, with Sam Trass and Morgan Lumsden finishing ahead of Phoebe Diamond and Ara Wyatt.

Ralph Hetzel, 80, was another swimmer from the 1980s who had a close involvement with the early days of swimming in Nelson Harbour. Ralph finished sixth in the shorter event.

It was a day for talking about history and the small beginnings of the sport in Nelson.

Nowadays, swims in this small seaside town attract the cream of swimmers from all over the country.

The Rylock Series continues every Thursday in Nelson until mid-March.

Full results and details at nelsonseaswims.co.nz.