Radford Gets Title Chances Back on Track in State NZ Ocean Swim Series

New Zealand Open Water Champion Kane Radford added another win to his resume at the inaugural State La Grande Swim held in Akaroa this morning.

The victory gets Radford’s overall title chances back on track after finishing third in Wellington when he missed the final turning buoy.

Today a leading bunch of four men jostled for position throughout the first half of the 2.8km race, but as they rounded the outermost buoy it was Radford who swam away from the pack to reach the finish line at Children’s Bay in 30min 09sec.

“I just wanted to get into a rhythm at the start and just sit there and see what all the other guys were going to do,” Radford said.

“Once we turned around the buoy at the half way point I just sort of took off from there and it felt really good.”

It was the first time that the State La Grande Swim has been held in Akaroa after last year’s event in Corsair Bay was cancelled following the earthquake.

Radford has enjoyed success in the city after winning the last State Corsair Classic event in 2010.

“It’s always great to win the first one here in Akaroa. It’s something that nobody can take away from you,” said Radford.

“Every time I’ve come to Christchurch I’ve actually won, which is unlike anywhere else for me so it is becoming a bit of a lucky place for me,” said the Rotorua swimmer who is part of Swimming New Zealand’s High Performance squad.

Cook Strait record holder Casey Glover (Wellington) sprinted up the beach to take second place by a nose over Hamilton’s Jonathan Pullon with local boy Henry Norris fourth.

The women’s race proved a triumph for highly promising Ashburton 16-year-old Grace Sommerville who led from start to finish, winning the elite swim in 33:20.

“So far this is probably the biggest thing I’ve achieved in my swimming,” she said.

“I could always see another swimmer out of the corner of my eye so I was trying my best to go faster and beat them.”

Aucklander Brenda Russell was a close second followed by local Christchurch star swimmer and Olympic hopeful Sophia Batchelor.

Mrniong fog lifted over the beautiful French colony in time to see almost 800 swimmers from around the country, both elite and social, dive into the chilly Pacific Ocean in one of the four race distances on offer.

Broadcaster Kerre Woodham flew down from Auckland to continue her gentle rise up the ocean swimming ranks in the ‘Step it up’ 1000m event.

“I’ve started to enjoy it now,” she said. “I love the sea and I love swimming so I thought it would be easy. It was hard.”

Woodham said she was excited for round five in Mount Maunganui next month, but is still not ready to make the jump up to the 2.6km ‘I’m going long’ swim.  

“I wouldn’t want to cheapen the event, because that says it’s for experienced swimmers and I don’t think six weeks counts,” said Woodham.

Results:

Elite 2.8km Men: Kane Radford (HPC Rotorua) 30:09, 1; Casey Glover (Capital) 30:30, 2; Jonathan Pullon (Waterhole, Auckland) 30:35, 3.
Elite 2.8km Women: Grace Sommerville (Ashburton) 33:20, 1; Brenda Russell (Auckland) 33:39, 2; Sophia Batchelor (AquaGym, Christchurch) 34:46, 3.
 

For more information regarding the discount and the event in general, visit the website at www.oceanswim.co.nz.

CAPTION: Kane Radford wins the State La Grande Swim in Akaroa today.
Credit: Bruce Wilson.