Courtesy of Ken Thorley, The Five, Hong Kong.
The Five, a 5 km race in Hong Kong from Stanley Pier to Repulse Bay organized by Ian Polson, was held yesterday with 48 entrants.
“A tremendous battle was played out between the lead group of 8 swimmers,” reports Ken Thorley. “They kept together as a pack for about two-thirds of the race before they started to separate.
The final sprint came down between outstanding athletes. 17-year-old Singha Chau, the reigning Hong Kong 10 km champion, and 15-year-old Temana Short, a multiple Hong Kong Age Group champion in the pool over 50-200m, raced right down to the wire. With favourable currents and winds, very fast times were recorded.”
The top finishers in the race are not newcomers to the sport; 5 of the top 7 swimmers are from the Australian International School Hong Kong and include Short, Sam Thorley, Bill Thorley, Henry Phillis, and William Phillis. Behind their efforts are the passion of race director Polson, who also coordinates a large open water swimming group in Hong Kong, and their former coach at the Australian International School Hong Kong who introduced these boys and many other students to open water swimming.
“Hong Kong is a great place for open water swimming; the water is accessible, safe, and spectacular,” describes their former coach Thorley.
The Five Final Results:
1 Singha Chau 58:16
2 Temana Short 58:31
3 Fredric Liljestroem 1:00:40
4 Sam Thorley 1:01:48
5 Bill Thorley 1:01:52
6 William Phillis 1:04:56
7 Henry Phillis 1:05:50
8 Henry Wright 1:07:13
9 Simon Holliday 1:14:50
10 Mary Kwok 1:17:23 [1st Female]
11 Ken Cooper 1:23:24
12 Robert Williams 1:23:31
13 Keith Poon 1:23:44
14 Karen Surgenor 1:23:47 [2nd Female]
15 Nimrod Wei 1:24:00
16 Mark McWhinnie 1:24:11
17 Kurt Kemppainen 1:24:15
18 Edie Hu 1:24:15 [3rd Female]
19 Lawrence Webb 1:24:19
20 Mandy Tik 1:25:55 [4th Female]
21 Marc Abecassis 1:26:10
22 Andrea Wright 1:26:14 [5th Female]
23 Ringo Chan 1:26:46
24 Alec Stuart 1:27:48
25 Torsten van Dullemen 1:29:08
26 Osamu Yamagata 1:32:01
27 Daniel VanderHave 1:32:59
28 Ulrich Kirchhoff 1:33:02
29 Robert Petty 1:35:06
30 Nikhil O.j. Eapen 1:35:14
31 Ed Wawn 1:35:39
32 Mark Blick 1:36:43
33 Olivier Evanno 1:38:34
34 Katrin Buchta 1:40:47 [6th Female]
35 Wing Him Denis Wong 1:43:48
36 Eugene Shindo 1:52:27
37 Danny Lee 2:03:08
38 Laurent Laclaverie 2:11:37
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