Top swimmers in gruelling contest

Press, 30 December 1978, Page 10

Top swimmers in gruelling contest

Increased entries and a reduced programme are. the features of the second New Zealand marathon

swimming championship which will be held between January 27 and February 25. A virtually unknown event when the inaugural championship started last January, it quickly captured the attention of the public as the amazing long-distance feats of swimmers like John Coutts, Sandra Blewett and Meda McKenzie made headlines. Coutts, the strapping Hawke’s Bay swimmer, and former Commonwealth Games bronze medallist, won all five races last season and will attempt his second successive win this year. The programme has been reduced by one race to four, and the Cook Strait swim is the only one retained from last season’s programme. Entries this year have increased by three to 10, and the three women who swam in last year’s championship — Blewett, McKenzie and Sally Bruce (nee McKimm) — have entered again.

Other entrants are Patrick Benson (Hastings), Perry Cameron (Auckland), Allan Christie (Napier), Graham Faulkner (Auckland), Chris Hurdley (Auckland) and Allan Vincent (Upper Hutt). Last week-end Hurdley and Christie made successful crossings of Cook Strait, so they will be involved in second attempts on the Strait between February 21 and 25 — the period set down by • the New Zealand Marathon Swimming Council for the championship Strait swims. Apart from the Strait swim, the longest swim this year is from Rakino Island to Takapuna Beach in Auckland, a distance of 10 nautical miles. January 27 or 28 has been set as the date for the swim. The second race on February 3 or 4 is from Whale Island to Whakatane a distance of six miles, and the third from Worser Bay to Oriental

Bay on Wellington Har- L bour on February 18. Coutts, such a com ■ vincing winner of the inaugural title, is a firm t favourite to win again this year. He is a strong swimmer with years of both surf and pool experience behind him, but Hurdley , will have increased confidence after conquering Cook Strait from North to South in record time. There will be a battle between Blewett and McKenzie to establish who is the top woman distance swimmer. McKenzie, still only 16, must hold that distinction at present after her tremendous feat of crossing the English and Bristol channels last (northern) summer. But Blewett has some remarkable achievements to her 1 credit, and will be determined to complete a swim of Cook Strait after three failures. Air New Zealand sponsored the inaugural championship and it will continue its support of the event this year.