Stroke & Stride Race Report

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: PRESS RELEASE
Date: Fri, 12 Mar 2010 09:05:49 +1300
From: stroke & stride
To: stroke & stride

2XU STROKE & STRIDE
RACE #8
10 March 2010
MISSION BAY -- AUCKLAND -- NEW ZEALAND

Stroke & Stride Race Report

There's a lot riding on the final event in the 2XU Stroke & Stride
Series. It is the culmination of a whole summer of racing with the last
chance to secure those elusive points. It is also the 2010 New Zealand
Swimrun Championships and the associated bragging rights that goes with
owning that title for the next twelve months.

This Auckland summer has been very good to the Stroke & Stride and for
the finale in the middle of March - which is now officially autumn - the
weather was straight out of mid summer. The days may now be a bit
shorter however for our afternoon at the beach it was an uninterrupted
blue-sky day with the temps up there in the region of warm bordering on
hot. Of course the obligatory wind was blowing but we wouldn't expect
anything else at the Stroke & Stride.

The swim for the championship event is over a 1000 metre course with the
first buoy in line with Rangitoto Island nearly 500 metres offshore of
the beach at Mission Bay. The men's field were the first to start. The
large crowd watching and all the females on the start line were then
entertained as the guys demonstrated that while travelling a straight
line between two points is oft believed to be the shortest route they
were keen to look for a short cut by weaving their way out to that first
can. We realise that south-westerly was making itself felt and the tide
was doing its thing and that most of you just follow whoever happens to
be in front but really guys.

The leaders learnt their lesson after that and swam a much straighter
return to the shore with Brent Foster clocking 11minutes 38 seconds
giving himself a handful of seconds lead over the likely contenders that
included Lee Greer 11m 54s, Sam Franklin 12m 04s, Michael Poole 12m 29s,
Sam Morreau 13m 01s, Liam Scopes 13m 06s and Sam Ward 13m 20s.

Our women's field had no intention of swimming anymore than the
necessary 1000 metres. They held a much straighter line navigating
their swim with Maddie Dillon this time leading them out in the time of
13 minutes 45 seconds. Sitting ominously on her toes was Simone
Ackermann with Georgia Lloyd also very handily placed running into
transition.

The run is a flat 4 kilometres out and back with a generous tailwind
propelling you towards St Heliers and then an onerous headwind
confronting you coming home. Plus as earlier mentioned it was still
really quite warm out there, which can also prove taxing when your legs
start to tire.

You may have heard this before but here goes -- Brent Foster leads out
of the water, Brent Foster extends his lead on the run, Brent Foster
wins another Stroke & Stride (number 69 if you're counting), Brent
Foster claims his tenth New Zealand Swimrun Championship title and keep
on reading for how many times he has won the Stroke & Stride Series.

Back at the race it was Liam Scopes and his legendary leg speed again
doing the most damage out on the road running himself up into second
place edging Sam Franklin back into third. The podium was followed in
by Sam Morreau and Lee Greer.

Our defending Series Champion Simone Ackermann has been prominent but
not dominant all summer long with more than twelve months now passed
since her last Stroke & Stride victory. This race was going to change
that record with Simone hitting the outright lead soon after the swim.
She extended that lead over the course of the run to record a
comfortable win at the vital last race of the season. Furthermore
Simone Ackermann collects her first New Zealand Swimrun title and adds
her name to that illustrious list of champions dating back to 1993.

Maddie Dillon may be young however she demonstrates a lot of maturity
out on the racetrack and her second place finish today again reinforces
her as one to watch in future years. Third place goes to Georgia Lloyd,
another up and coming athlete recording her own best Stroke & Stride
result ever. More experienced Lizzie Orchard uses her best result of
the season to secure fourth place ahead of another of the younger ones
with fifth place goes to Elise Salt who also gets better with every outing.

Back to Brent Foster. We have lost count of how many birthdays he's
racked up and we have exhausted our supply of adjectives for his
performances However we can tell you his victory in Race #8 caps off a
fabulous season winning him the Stroke & Stride Championship and the
name Brent Foster will now be engraved on the Stroke & Stride cup for
the 15th time.

A string of fine results since November has Liam Scopes in second place
for the year improving on last season's fourth. Sam Franklin is the big
mover jumping from seventh in 2009 to a terrific third in 2010 with Sam
Morreau and Cameron Todd endeavouring to keep him honest.

To win the Series you need to put together a whole summer of strong,
consistent performances and while many thousands have toed the start
line only a dozen women have got to the top of that particular mountain.
To repeat the following season is therefore truly outstanding for
Simone Ackermann as she takes her Stroke & Stride Championship title
home again. Runner up Carmel Hanly had her season cruelly disrupted at
the final hurdle and while surely disappointed there's nothing wrong
with second place in this competition. Getting better each year sees
Maddie Dillon lift herself onto the podium in third place ahead of
Lizzie Orchard and Elise Salt.

The next event is on Wednesday, November 3rd, 2010 - further details
including full Age Group results are at swimrun.org

RESULTS
Male
1 Brent Foster
26m 19s
2 Liam Scopes
27m 01s
3 Sam Franklin AUS 27m 10s
4 Sam Morreau 27m 37s
5 Lee Greer
27m 39s
6 Sam Ward
27m 52s
7 Cameron Burstall 28m 30s
8 Jared Bowden
29m 01s
9 Cooper Rand 29m
05s
10 Darragh Walshe 29m 18s

Female
1 Simone Ackermann 30m 35s
2 Maddie Dillon
30m 51s
3 Georgia Lloyd
31m 06s
4 Lizzie Orchard
32m 03s
5 Elise Salt
32m 07s
6 Megan Roper 32m
43s
7 Amelia Watkinson 33m 31s
8 Rachel Bowie
33m 47s
9 Inge Morton
33m 57s
10 Theresa Bidwell 34m 12s

FINAL GRAND PRIX POINTS

Female
1 Simone Ackermann 105
2 Carmel Hanly 92
3 Maddie Dillon 83
4 Georgia Lloyd 63
5 Lizzie Orchard 57
6 Elise Salt 51
7T Teresa Adam 50
7T Megan Roper 50
9 Samantha Warriner 40
10 Amelia Watkinson 36

Male
1 Brent Foster 111
2 Liam Scopes 94
3 Sam Franklin AUS 84
4 Sam Morreau 74
5 Cameron Todd 60
6 Sam Ward 48
7 Lee Greer 44
8 Ryan Sissons 40
9 Cameron Burstall 38
10 Cooper Rand 33

ends

© Scoop Media