Promoted as Africa’s largest family beach event, Nelson Mandela Bay’s Weekend Post Ocean Racing Series is certainly drawing the families this season and some are starting to dominate. No so more than the Jones family which saw Jason taking gold in the Dis-Chem 1km ocean swim and Wayne taking the gold for the 2km swim whilst Daniel secured the silver medal for the 1km swim. In the ladies swim category, the Billson family continues to dominate the Dis-Chem 1km swim with Carmel taking the gold medal and younger sister Lauren the silver medal. In the fun and exciting Kingfisher FM Kids 1km beach run, the Voigt family saw Jade taking gold in the girls race whilst Joshua grab the bronze in the boys race behind Brad Breetzke and Nicholas Kingston whilst Sarah Hansen and Courtney Wood took the silver and bronze medals in the girls race.
Despite the weekends strong winds, at times gusting at over 40km per hour, hundreds of participants packed Hobie Beach to take part in the 3rd round of this 12 round Series which takes place on alternate Sunday mornings through until the end of March 2012.
Adri Louw made it a hattrick of wins in the ladies 2km ocean swim, winning Sundays race from Chrislie Niehaus and Tammy Geyer whilst on the beach the unbeaten record of Marinus Johnson was extended in the 5km Varsity College Beach Run with Antonio Seconds and Lwazi Mgidi placing 2nd and 3rd respectively. Mariette Hattingh comfortably won the ladies 5km beach run from Margie Saunders and Lee-anne Collyer.
Also braving the winds on Sunday was young Alex, a grade 7 pupil at Triomf Primary School who realized his dream of owning his own personal computer, presented by Quantum Investments as part of the Ocean Racing Series’ support of the Reach for a Dream Foundation.
Full results and information on the Weekend Post Ocean Racing Series is available on www.oceanracingseries.com with pictures from the weekend on the Ocean Racing Series Facebook page. The next race in the Series takes place on Sunday 20th November with online registration recommended.
Sundays’s youngest finisher was 22-month old Mikhail Strauss who completed the Kingfisher FM Kids 1km beach Run/walk in a time of 17min 31sec.
