Three in a row
Star Taranaki swimmer Zac Reid has won the Flannagan Cup ocean swim race for the third year in a row.
Since the competition began in 1916 just two people have won three times, chairman of the organising committee Neale Parkinson said.
‘‘But never three on the trot. Reid, a double gold medallist from the 2017 Youth Commonwealth Games, was the first to achieve that, Parkinson said.
‘‘He’s a very good young swimmer who has aspirations to go to the Tokyo Olympics and he’s on track to do that.’’
There was about a 20 per cent increase on competitors from last year, with more than 200 people participating in the different races. Ages ranged from 10 to 72.
The swimmers who came in second and third, Lorcan Redmond and Emma Jeffcoat, in the 3.6km Flannagan Cup swim were triathletes from Sydney who were training in Taranaki, Parkinson said.
‘‘They were field.’’
This year they introduced a new 400m event, so people could have ago at ocean swimming, and there were 3 x 200m relay swim well up in the for junior swimmers, he said. ‘‘It was good seeing them involved.’’
Aquabladz New Plymouth Swimming Club head coach Sue Southgate said youngsters from her squad, from the age of 10 up, were swimming in the event.
‘‘This is a personal challenge for them. Even if they don’t come anywhere they have a great sense of achievement just completing the race. They can say they’ve done it.’’
It’s very different from what they are used to in the pool, Southgate said.
There are no black look to and there’s between the markers, have to navigate and swim in a straight line.
‘‘They’re fit little bunnies. They’ve done a lot of work over the holidays.’’ lines to nothing so they have to