Courtesy of WOWSA, Huntington Beach, California.
“The 14.5 km Clean Half Extreme Marathon Swim was huge today,” exclaimed Doug Woodring from Hong Kong.
“The full moon really showed its power and pull for the ocean. The tides were strong and we had some of the slowest times ever with our fastest teams 30 minutes off of the normal times. The Clean Half Extreme Marathon Swim lived up to its name on an amazingly beautiful day.
We had over 62 teams and 24 solo swimmers, in 27-28ºC water.”
The brother-sister combo of Benjamin and Jemma Freeman from Australia who heard about the event from Trent Grimsey who set the course record last year did very well. At the young ages of 16 and 17 respectively, the siblings sweep the solo swims in the men’s and women’s division. The team races were tightly fought with a number of teams with an average age of 13 or 14 who flew through the water like pink dolphins.
“Due to the conditions, everyone came away with an even better respect for the ocean and hopefully understand the value and benefits of being the first line of defense in our communities for our waters as Ocean Ambassadors. I want to thank all of the volunteers and the Eclipse Group and High Five for their support with some of the awards. The next event is The Five on November 9th.”
The top 10 relays included the following teams (full results are here):
1. HWI Mix 3:30:07 (Aneekah Styles + Kevin Chow + Miles Williams + Gordon Mason + Jemima Ridley)
2. LRC Krill 03:34:12 (Julian Snelling + Pascal Snelling + Kris Chu + Oscar Coggins + Nicholas Lim)
3. CIS Phoenix Masters 3:37:41 (Henry Wright + Henry Warren + Reiny Brown + Alex Beaulne + Lawrence Fanous)
4. HK Island Stingrays 3:49:28 (Bridgette Kwong + Alexandra Bazarian + Bailee Brown + Ivy Richter + Charlotte Kiki Anderson)
5. AISHK Kangaroos 3:54:19 (Andy Pich + Ethan McGrath + Sam Thorley + George Zhu + Temana Short)
6. Lrc Hustlers 3:54:46 (Mark Cummings + Stefan Rust + Matthieu Barry + Jane Kelsey + Christena Pazos)
7. Wdk 3:59:38 (James Tan + Matthew Tan + Aaron Khemlyani + Owen Henderson + Jonathan Wong Ka Ho)
8. The Big Blue 4:01:10 (Samantha Morton + Samantha Gove + Evelyn Cheng + Kiana Hiu Yu The + Faith So)
9. Team Ocean Recovery 4:02:36 (Doug Woodring + Geoff Cheah + Kenniz Ng + Steve Taylor + Taylor Williams)
10. HK Football Club 1 4:16:31 (Sean Whipkey + Ian Riddell + Arthur Li + Farah Master + Jessica McCarroll)
Results from the soloists:
1. Benjamin Freeman 3:33:04
2. Jemma Freeman 4:07:32 – Female
3. Naomi Watters 4:15:09 – Female
4. Alec Stuart 4:22:17
5. Rohan Hollick 4:33:43
6. Sheryl Slater 4:34:08 – Female
7. Gary Claydon 4:43:05
8. Bruce Dewar 4:46:03
9. Lynda Coggins 4:46:36 – Female
10. Nathalie Pohl 4:49:03 – Female
11. Heather Snowdon 4:51:49 – Female
12. Andy Tebutt 4:54:55
13. Julie Newton 5:27:41 – Female
14. Robert West 5:29:45
15. Antony Dickson 5:34:43
16. Simon Holliday 5:38:16
17. Nicola Davidson 5:48:23 – Female
18. Aaron Woolner 5:51:56
19. Anna Doubell 6:02:50 – Female
20. Mary Catherine Anderson 6:09:48 – Female
21. Richard Pollard 6:20:24
22. Fiona Wilkie 6:56:38 – Female
23. Bruce William Barlow Pye 6:58:18
Robert Kushner DQ
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