Marathon swim

Press, 10 December 1983, Page 8

Marathon swim

Drizzle and a chilly wind did not dampen the enthusiasm of several dozen hardy souls in the early stages of the New Zealand Amateur Swimming Association’s national 24-hour marathon, which started at 7 p.m. last evening. Two Christchurch clubs — St Albans and Sockburn Park — shunned the use of an indoor pool and mounted assaults on their own 24-hour targets outdoors.

Both pools were heated, which made the conditions more bearable for the large group of swimmers.

At the Wharenui pool, the host club and New Brighton were enjoying the warmth of an indoor pool and swimming well ahead of their targets after an hour. Both teams wanted to cover a minimum of 100 km in the 24 hours. The Wharenui team was swimming at a pace that would enable it to cover between 130 and 138 km in the 24 hours, although that total might slip away late today as the

swimmers become increasingly tired. New Brighton, if it keeps up the pace it maintained in the first hour, would cover about 120 km.

Sockburn Park, St Albans, and two combined teams at Queen Elizabeth II Park, North Beach-Papanui, and Avon Aquatics-Dudley Park, were both heading for 24-hour totals of between 80 and 100 km.

In total the six Christchurch teams should cover about 550 km in the 24 hours.

In Wellington, a national squad of 20 swimmers was comfortably ahead of its schedule, to break the world 100-mile record after three hours. It had covered 23.4 km.

To break the record by 11 minutes the team was set an average of 8.9 s for each 18.513 m lap. After three hours the team was averaging 8.51 s per lap. Converted, that meant it was 52 laps ahead of schedule.

Marathon picture, back page.