Heading into the season finale both the athletes leading the Series Grand Prix had handy but not insurmountable leads. Defending Series Champion Rebecca Clarke had a six point gap over her nearest rival Jacey Cropp while Cooper Rand was eleven points clear of his pursuers.
If we look back two years we had the same two athletes leading their categories going into the final when Cooper Rand was cruelly robbed by injury on the eve of the final event. This time Cooper had stayed healthy but can you believe it was Rebecca Clarke unfortunately sidelined with a debilitating injury and unable to defend her titles.
Race #3 in the Stroke & Stride Series doubles as the New Zealand SWIMRUN Championship for 2016 giving even more weight and importance to this final duel on the waterfront. The large crowd assembled at Mission Bay were treated to picture perfect conditions as Auckland laid on a sparkling day with plenty of sunshine and warmth around on an afternoon in March. Even Auckland’s perennial afternoon wind decided to puts its feet up and watch the event once race time arrived leaving the sea smooth and the run course fast.
The men’s field were underway with a bang over the big 1000 metre triangular course and by the time the first buoy was reached one swimmer had already moved clear of the field. A sizzling elapsed time of 11 minutes and 12 seconds saw Trent Thorpe touch the shore good enough for a whopping 53 second lead over the chasing pack starring the magnificent seven, namely: Trent Dodds, Matthew Franklin, Dan Hoy, James Matthews, Cooper Rand, Kyle Smith and Tommy Trees. Jan Such was a further 20 seconds in arrears and Quinn Wallwork was giving up another half a minute.
 Athletes going hard on the run(Photo: Jo McCarthy; click to enlarge) |
While the men got into their running and jockeyed for their final placings it was the women’s field churning up the waters on their swim. At the front it was Jacey Cropp with another outstanding swim breaking clear and opening up a twelve second lead to hit the beach in 12 minutes and 31 seconds. Next to arrive was Teresa Adam followed by Natasha Bowyer in 12 minutes 58 seconds and Isabella Morton with a time of 13 minutes 45 seconds.
Trent Thorpe started the run around the waterfront with a sizeable lead however he was being chased by a sizeable pack of talented runners who had the advantage of keying off each other as they set out to make inroads into the swim leader. Four kilometres of running later it was still all Trent Thorpe as he ran up the beach to take his first ever win at the Stroke & Stride and claim the title of New Zealand Swimrun Champion for 2016 with a tremendous wire-to-wire victory. So while the fast running bunch couldn't catch Trent they could still engage in a Battle Royale to sort out who would be joining him on the podium. Again it was Dan Hoy displaying the fastest pair of legs on the course running himself up into a comfortable second placing. Kyle Smith was racing Stroke & Stride for the first time and came away with an impressive bronze on debut. This left Trent Dodds and Tommy Trees sprinting in for fourth place with one of the closest finishes we've witnessed and when it was sent upstairs to the judges they couldn't be separated.
Likewise Jacey Cropp also had a useful lead going out onto the run course following her strong swim however she couldn't afford to relax needing to continue to press the pace all the way to the turn cone down the waterfront at St Heliers Bay and continue right to the finish line at Mission Bay. Turns out this time no one could match Jacey as she ran superbly and records her first ever Stroke & Stride victory by a generous margin and captures the New Zealand SWIMRUN title as bonus. Teresa Adam is another fine swimrun athlete and past Stroke & Stride winner and while her run couldn’t make any inroads on first place it was enough for her to consolidate her second placing. Another former winner Ashleigh Williams utilised the fastest run of the day to capture third place. Natasha Bowyer held on for fourth ahead of of fast finishing Katherine Badham.
The Series Grand Prix decides the overall Stroke & Stride champions with points awarded through the Series. To win these trophies a competitor needs to have a good share of athletic prowess and just as importantly the consistency to perform and stay healthy over those five long months of summer. One is also required to beat home all those other outstanding athletes frantically vying for the prize. It seems winning has never been more difficult as no athlete scored more than one win all summer. With a couple of seasons under her belt Jacey Cropp (5th, 3rd & 1st) just got better with every outing as she took her game to a new level and is rewarded with the deserved title of Stroke & Stride Champion for the summer. Having won the Series for the past two seasons Rebecca Clarke (2nd & 3rd) was on track and one result away from a three-peat before being derailed and forced into settling for the overall runner up position. Matching her result from last season is Katherine Badham (6th, 8th & 5th) in third place and just a solitary point ahead of Teresa Adam (5th & 2nd) and Ashleigh Williams (4th & 3rd) who were all tied up for fourth place overall.
Over the decades we don't see a lot of new Men’s Champions at Stroke & Stride however this season Cooper Rand (1st, 6th & 7th) made the best possible start and then did enough to ensure that it was his name being engraved on the Stroke & Stride Cup. Four points behind our worthy winner was the man that was the dominant force at back end of summer and perhaps rueing missing the first event, Trent Thorpe (3rd & 1st) takes the silver. Trent Dodds (2nd & 4th) and Matthew Franklin (4th, 8th & 8th) travelled different routes but ultimately arrived at the same destination tied on points in third position and holding a couple of points advantage over Tommy Trees (3rd & 4th) in fifth overall.
For full results and final points please visit the swimrun.org site.
Results: Stroke & Stride Series, Race 3
Male
1. Trent Thorpe 25m 08s
2. Dan Hoy 25m 32s
3. Kyle Smith 25m 47s
4T Trent Dodds 25m 57s
4T Tommy Trees JPN 25m 57s
6. James Matthews 26m 35s
7. Cooper Rand 27m 23s
8. Matthew Franklin 27m 45s
9. Quinn Wallwork 28m 03s
10. Matthew McQueen 28m 40s
Female
1. Jacey Cropp 28m 46s
2. Teresa Adam 29m 28s
3. Ashleigh Williams 29m 58s
4. Natasha Bowyer 30m 08s
5. Katherine Badham 30m 53s
6. Charlotte Gordon 30m 59s
7. Isabella Morton 31m 19s
8. Anna Faulkner 31m 39s
9. Anna Russell 32m 17s
10. Julia Cree 34m 00s
Grand Prix Points After Race 3
Female
1. Jacey Cropp 46
2. Rebecca Clarke 32
3. Katherine Badham 29
4T Teresa Adam 28
4T Ashleigh Williams 28
6. Isabella Morton 22
7T Nicole van der Kaay 20
7T Sophie Corbidge 20
9. Anna Faulkner 19
10T Charlotte Gordon 17
10T Yuko Takahashi JPN 17
Male
1. Cooper Rand 39
2. Trent Thorpe 35
3T Trent Dodds 29
3T Matthew Franklin 29
5. Tommy Trees JPN 27
6. James Matthews 23
7T Jake Allen 20
7T Tayler Reid 20
9. Matthew McQueen 18
10T Dan Hoy 17
10T Sam Ward 17
