It was a balmy evening, with gentle sea breezes on Takapuna Beach for race 10 of the State Beach Series. Little wind and a low tide meant the conditions were perfect for all competitors.
49er Olympic sailor Marcus Hanson surprised the bunch as he embarked on his first victory in the 3km Stand up Paddleboard event. Troy McAsey finished in second place, 9 seconds behind Hanson with Gavin Houghton came in third. It was not one of the better races for 5th ranked in the world of ocean paddling, Jeremy Stephenson who finished in 4th place. In the Women's event world number two Annabel Anderson left the pack for dead, winning easily 2 minutes ahead of Stacey Smith while Olympic sailor Jo Aleh finished third.
Steven Fergusson showed fine form in the 5km Surf ski paddle taking out the men's race, 10" ahead of Marty McDowell with Oskar Stielau back in third. Rachael Dodwell made a huge improvement this week, jumping up a spot to take 1st place beating her time last week by 6 minutes.
New Zealand swimmer Steven Kent won the 1km ocean race convincingly, a better performance from him after he finished 7th last weekend in the Elite event at the Capitol Classic Ocean swim where he struggled with cramp. It was another strong swim from Kirsty Wannan, who finished 4 seconds ahead of Joanna O'Connor while Brenda Russell finished in third in the Women's race.
In the 5km beach run it was 1st equal for Shaun Bowyer and Adrian Eichmann both clocking a time of 18mins 19". In the Women's division Tara La Grange took out the race but was followed closely by Karen Hallas who finished second ahead of Lesley in third.
