Sea swimmers nail down season rankings

Lilly Claridge and Hayden Squance sealed their series victories with wins in race 16 of the Rylock Sea Swim Series, held over a 1300m course from the Nelson Yacht Club on Thursday.

Although the normal tidal flow didn’t interfere too much with proceedings, nature threw up a few other tests.

The first leg was a long stretch of 600m from the yacht club ramp across to the Haulashore Island jetty. Sunstrike was a problem, as swimmers struggled to get a fix on the turn buoy, which was almost in line with the setting sun.

The lead bunch of Hayden, Ben Marshall, Terry Bone and Gus Marfell were close together for leg two, a 500m slog back across to Rocks Rd. Things were choppier on this leg, with a slight current from the left, and there was the constant need to try to sight the yacht which acted as a turn mark prior to the final leg of 200m.

To get to the finish, competitors had to round a buoy about 30m from the ramp.

Hayden went round comfortably in the lead, followed by Terry Bone, but Blenheim swimmer Gus Marfell had other ideas.

In a massive sprint, he overtook Terry to finish second.

In the best of 12 series, Ben and Hamish Neill have been fighting it out for third place. Prior to Thursday, Gus only had nine swims under his belt and it seemed his season in Nelson was done.

However, his sudden reappearance edged him into third overall by two points, even though he’s only completed ten swims. One more appearance in the final two swims will cement that place, with Hamish and Ben left to fight for fourth and fifth.

No such drama on the women’s side of the field.

Lilly Claridge cruised to her 13th win of the season, ten seconds ahead of Nia Linyard, who was closely followed by her sister Keshia.

There lies a great family story. Many Nelson swimmers are coached by Jon Linyard. Keshia, 15,  is firmly in second place on the women’s table, while Nia, 13, will finish third. However, Nia has had the upper hand in recent weeks, setting up an interesting prospect for next season.

In the meantime, father Jon matches his daughters stroke for stroke. In Thursday’s race, Nia’s time was 18 minutes 40 seconds, Jon’s was 18.41 and Keshia 18.43.

In last weekend’s South Island schools championships, swum over a 2km course in Akaroa, both sisters won their age groups, while Jon, swimming in the open section, won the M50-59 section.

Back to Thursday’s swim.

Every week, swimmers have the option of a shorter course. Christina Harris has competed in the longer swims all season and now she’s firmly placed in fourth overall. At the same time, she’s unbeatable in F60-69.

Having sewn up those positions, on Thursday she decided to step down to the 700m swim, winning that by one second from short series leader Liliana Perrett. Matanga Marsden, Billie Maskell, Catherine Taylor and Annabel Reburn were next to finish.

Swimming continues for two more weeks in the Rylock series.

Full results and information at nelsonseaswims.co.nz.