Swim over coral heads

The final race of the ocean swim series has produced the fastest times seen in the event yet.

Nine brave swimmers turned up for the final race of the series, giving onlookers a great spectacle and a close finish over the 3km course.

The route from Muri beach to Tikioki took some interesting turns with marker flags utilising the deeper lagoon areas between the starting and finishing points and navigating through coral heads and large schools of fish.

The course produced some fast times under ideal conditions and was eagerly watched by spectators along the beach.

Vanessa Palmer, who has been dominating throughout the series, was followed closely by Dale Wells, who has been the dark horse in the competition with ‘snorkelling in the lagoon’ as his only form of training.

At the half-way point, Palmer had extended her lead but lost that in the final 700m when she took a more southerly course and ended up on the coral heads before the finish line.

In the end, Palmer managed to keep her lead and finish the race in a time of 45 minutes, 19 seconds with Wells close behind in a time of 46.13.

Congratulations to both who’ve posted the fastest times over 3km to date. Both swimmers are now in NZ getting ready for the big 2.8km King of the Bays this weekend with up to 3000 people competing swimming in different parts of the race.

Congratulations also to the ladies, Sherid Carter, Rangi Apera, Apii Napa and Mona Henderson for battling it out with each taking a different course and providing some close and exciting racing.

Again, congratulations to all who participated in the series and CIAF would like to thank everyone for their support and look forward to the next swim event later in the year.