Cold wintery conditions greeted our swimmers at the stunning Lake Tikitapu (Blue Lake) for The Generation Homes Legend of the Lake on Saturday.
But the cold southerly wind did not deter as nearly 1600 happy faces took to the warm water, with many embracing the electric atmosphere by taking on 2 or more events, some just to enjoy the spectacular run around the lake in the Amphibian.
We were extremely proud to host the 2021 New Zealand Secondary School Open Water National Swimming Championships, so a huge contingency of extremely fast youngsters came out, guns blazing!
And they didn’t disappoint – the first 20 finishers in the 3.5km Round the Lake were under 19 with the exception of one – full credit to Steven Prescott who finished 18th and won the M65-69 Category! Fantastic effort Steven!
So back to our incredible teens, the pressure was on with the addition of national titles at stake, and as a result, our our men’s podium took on a new look – Bronson Lloyd from Waikanae took the win and National Secondary Schools title in 39.38, well clear of Alec Swan in second in 40.20 and Oxford Bayley in 40.45.
The women’s podium saw Abbey Smale from Richmond retain her top spot winning (and 9th overall) in 41.49. Talitha Mcewan was second in 42.09 and Sarah Cummings took third place in 42.27.
We congratulate the college students who travelled from all over the country to compete. It was fun and inspirational to be surrounded by our future sporting heroes!
