TOP TALENT AT AQUELLÉ OCEAN RACING SERIES

14 October 2014
TOP TALENT AT AQUELLÉ OCEAN RACING SERIES

The 10th Season of Nelson Mandela Bay’s unique aQuellé Ocean Racing Series™ (ORS) got under way on Sunday with over 400 participants braving the strong off-shore winds which lashed the city beach front throughout the morning.

One of the city’s premier water sport events, the Series draws participants from around the Province on alternate Sunday mornings to Hobie Beach where families take part in any one of the 6 events taking place on the morning and get to enjoy the city’s iconic beachfront.

In the eagerly contested aQuellé 5km Beach Run the race belonged to the youngsters with 15 year old taking gold ahead of Siyanda Jacobs and Likhaya Rooi whilst 13 year old Megan Snyman grab the ladies gold medal from Sanet Owen and Samantha Perelson. The 5km Beach Walk saw the oldest participant of the Series taking part in 83 year old Quentin Vermaak who placed 6th on the morning behind overall winner Sibusiso Macamba with Juan Slabbert and Colin Korkie filling the podium. Milé Vermaak won the ladies division from Michelle Geel and Michaela Brislin.
 
Young 16 year old Brigitte Muller, taking part in her first aQuellé 1km Ocean Swim, had an outstanding swim in the tough conditions which not only included choppy wind blown waters but also strong currents, to record a comfortable win in the ladies division ahead of seasoned open water swimmers Antonella Saporta and Tammy Geyer whilst the men's division was strongly contested with just 3 seconds separating eventual winner Jason Jones from Ian Venter with Joshua Bellairs just 28 seconds further back. In the double lap 2km Ocean Swim it was comfortable wins for Daniel Jones and Kirsten Marriott with Bradley Reen and Amica de Jager taking silver and Dylan Smith and Rebecca Newman the bronze. A new addition to the Series this season is the 3km SUP race for stand-up paddlers and this was contested by Michael Klos, Mia Vorster and Alex Erens in some very testing conditions.

Always extremely popular is the aQuellé Kids 12 years and under 1km Beach Run/Walk which attracted 87 very excited children on Sunday morning with Gabrielle Reece the youngest at just 2 years old. Dante Havenga and Megan Owen won the 6 and under category, Josh Loon and Abbie Mitchell the 7-8 year category, Tristan Van Aardt and Rebecca Mardon the 9- 10 year category whilst Bradley Bosman and Annemieke Mock won the 11-12 year category.

The Aquellé Ocean Racing Series, round 2, takes place on Sunday 26th October at Hobie Beach starting at 9am with Series membership just R50 (register online at www.oceanracingseries.com) and race days entry fees of just R60 for the water events, R40 for the beach events and R30 for the kids 1km beach run. Immediately after each race days participants get to stand a chance at winning their share of over R5000 in lucky draw prizes including R1,000 cash.