Bumper Ocean Racing Series turnout at Hobie
SUNDAY’S Ocean Racing Series saw more than 500 entrants pack out Hobie Beach to take advantage of the near-perfect conditions.
Round four of the fortnightly series attracted participants from Limpopo, Norway, the United Kingdom and Australia – and showed off the city’s premier blue flag beach at its best.
The 1km Ocean Swim title remained with undefeated Series champion Ian Venter, who finished strongly in a time of 12:57 ahead of Credence Pattinson (13:24) and Seth de Swardt (13:56).
Kirsten Marriott (15:00) took the women’s title from Hannah Counihan (16:06) and Britney Brown (16:41).
The 2km Ocean Swim was won by Daniel Jones in 26:59 with Flippie van der Spuy (27:43) in second ahead of Jason Kivedo (28:12). St Francis swimmer Chane de Jager (30:53) won the women’s race from Antonelle Saporta (31:30) and Liza Kingston (32:08).
Honours in the 3km Ocean Swim went to East London’s Deshaan Pillay (37:49) from Kevin Richards (38:59) and Joshua Tucker (43:08), with Hannah Haswell (43:09) taking the women’s race from Tracy Gous (46:24) and Idelette Olivier (46:50).
Increasing in popularity this season is the 400m Ocean Swim, which was won by Connor Craig (5:51), with Liam Liston (5:59) taking silver and Dane Iverson (6:04) the bronze. Tiara Finnis (6:28) got gold in the women’s section, followed by Jasmine Witthuhn (7:13) and Jodi Wilson (7:18).
Luvuyo Stephen continued to dominate the 5km Beach Run with Sunday’s win in 17:19 ahead of Zack Serfontein (17:26) and James Barnardt (18:05), while Tara Sacke (18:57) extended her overall lead with a win ahead of Julia Pringle (20:03) and Venesa Ross (25:13).
In the 5km Beach Walk, it was Grobbie Grobler (26:40) who took the honours ahead of Juan Slabbert (33:28) and David Raymer (39:09), with Taryn Ferreira (35:15) taking the women’s gold from Mile Vermaak (35:17) and Amirah Meyer (36:30).
In the Kids 1km Beach Run, the six and under gold medals went to Jamie Aukett and Lauren Duckworth; the 7 to 8 years gold to Aiden Joubert and Hunter Dutton; 9 to 10 years gold to Daniel Richter and Hannah Charles, while the 11 to 12 years gold went to Connor Roff and Kerri-Lee Barnard. ý