Swimmers extended in choppy seas

Last year’s national ocean swim champions Oxford Bayley of Nelson and Abbey Smale of Richmond returned to the sea for race two of the Rylock series from the Nelson Yacht Club on Thursday.

Oxford, 18, had to pull out all the stops for a narrow winner over Hayden Squance, 23, the winner of race one the previous week.

Abbey, 18, dominated the other women in the race, cruising into third place overfall ahead of the more mature Terry Bone, 49, and 58-year-old Hamish Neill, who just gets faster as he grows older.

A field of 112 swimmers took on the longer race over 1050m, while 24 took on the shorter event of 600m.

The first two legs of the triangular course headed south and out into the harbour, taking advantage of the outgoing tide and a following wind before a homeward slog of just over 400m into the wind and tide along the shoreline.

Although Oxford is the reigning national champion in the ocean, his goals this year are more focused on the pool, getting his times down in preparation for taking up a New Jersey university scholarship in August next year.

In the women’s competition, Sam Harman, 17, and last week’s winner Emily Chadderton, 14, took out second and third, followed by Lucy Barron, 29, Eva Elena, 14, and Lilly Claridge, 14.

In recent years Nelson’s female swimmers have excelled in the sea and the new batch of teenagers is backing up this tradition.

In the older age groups, Ben Van Dyke,71, stood out with ninth overall, while 80-year-old Derek Eaton finished in the top third of the field.

Eileen Searle, 60, is revelling in her new age group with two wins from two so far.

In the short race, Keshia Linyard turned the tables on last week’s winner Keisha Old, who had to be content with third behind Brianna Mckay.

Ollie Rooney was the first male home in the short race, stepping up from his second place in race one.

Racing continues in the Rylock series each Thursday throughout the summer.

Full results and information at nelsonseaswims.co.nz.