Succesful series underway

With thousands of people flocking to Hobie Beach, it's not called Africa's largest family lifestyle beach event for nothing. Season 6 of the Weekend Post Ocean Racing Series got underway in near perfect conditions on Sunday morning on Nelson Mandela Bay's premier beach, Hobie Beach. With just under 500 participants from all ages and all walks of live taking part, the atmosphere for the start of this 10 round Series was electrifying.

In an action packed morning which sees no fewer than 5 events happening simultaneously, it was the overall Series defending champions of Season 5 who started where they left off at the end of last summer. Most popular event was the Dis-Chem 1km Ocean Swim with close on 200 swimmers taking part and defending champions, Chris van de Sande and Carmel Billson, enjoying resounding wins in the one lap swim. In the 3 lap Dis-Chem 3km Ocean Swim, it was Michael Marais who crossed the line first, just ahead of African 5km open water swimming champion, Jessica Roux, who finished in 2nd place overall some 22 seconds ahead of South African Ironman Champion Raynard Tissink.

"It was great to be back in the Ocean again and taking part in the 3km Swim. Todays conditions were a a little choppy in the water and I was pushed the whole way by Raynard (Tissink), but I'm really pleased that I managed to stay ahead of him to the end." said Ladies 3km Dis-chem Ocean Swim winner Jessica Roux who finished 2nd overall.

The Series start also saw the first competitive race for stand up paddle surfers (SUP's) in the Varsity College Ocean Paddle discipline and this created a great interest amongst the spectators and participants. Top SA Surf Ski paddler, Richard von Wildemann, tried his hand at SUP and his superior fitness ensured he crossed the line first in the 2.5km race whilst young 16 year old Jordan Zeelie powered to victory in the 5km Surf Ski Ocean Paddle race.

On the beach it was the undefeated champion, Marinus Johnson, who remains unbeaten since December 2007 whilst Ursula Kuhn won the ladies 5km beach run and also walked away with the Adidas Winners Jackpot of a R1,200 pair of running shoes which is a lucky draw for all category winners across all disciplines on race day. This season the young kids have been given their own event which also enjoys its own lucky draw prizes in the kids (12 years and under) 1km Beach Run which was extremely well attended and won by 12 year old Johan Jacobs with 10 year old Jenna Parry winning the girls race.

The Weekend Post Ocean Racing Series also realises at least one dream for the Reach for a Dream Foundation on each of the 10 race days. "Unfortunately the dream of Thulani, a young 6 year old boy who has Hodgkins Lymphoma wasn't able to be presented on Sunday morning," said Mike Zoetmulder, organiser of the Series. "Thulani was unfortunately not well enough to attend the event, so we will take the dream, which was generously sponsored by one of our participants, to Thulani's house when he is feeling better."

Mr South Africa 2009, Stephen Segal, was a guest at the Series and handed out the prizes to all the winners. Other well known celebrities who took part on Sunday morning included Ockert Brits, legendary South African pole vaulter and more recently of Survivor fame. Full results and information are available on the website www.oceanracingseries.com. Season 6 of the Series will consist of 10 race days, held mostly on alternate Sunday mornings with Round 2 taking place on Sunday 21st November. The Series is open to all with online registration highly recommended.

Weekend Post Ocean Racing Series
Season 6 - Round 1 - Sunday 7/11/2010

Dis-Chem 3km Ocean Swim

Men
1 Michael Marais (38:39); 2 Raynard Tissink (41:57); 3 Jack De kort (42:27); 4 Hanre Barnard (42:44); 5 Eldon Leonard (44:21); 6 Richard Majoor (44:36); 7 Rohan Greyvenstein (50:31); 8 Richard Wright (51:33); 9 Tim Fraser (51:37); 10 Siegfried Lokotsch (51:39); 11 Richden Jute (51:58); 12 Kenneth Noble (51:59); 13 Eric Schultz (52:05); 14 Brenton Williams (52:08); 15 Chris Mowbray (52:12); 16 Norman Darrian (52:14); 17 Andre Kleynhans (52:17); 18 Paul Goosen (52:19); 19 Shaun Reznik (52:25); 20 Daniel Baines (55:23); 21 Werner Thetard (55:33); 22 Greg Tucker (55:36); 23 Ralph West (55:42); 24 Erik Hansen (55:58); 25 Philip Smallman (56:15); 26 Ernest Ward (59:17); 27 Chris Howes (59:21); 28 Brenton Blignaut (01:01:38); 29 Richard Morley (01:01:40); 30 Andrew Grobler (01:02:42); 31 Chris Viljoen (01:02:45); 32 Gary Schewitz (01:03:06); 33 Gordon Upton (01:04:42); 34 Stanford Slabbert (01:04:45); 35 Andrew Stewart (01:04:48); 36 Frikkie Venter (01:05:50); 37 John Karantges (01:05:56); 38 Greg Smith (01:08:42); 39 Warren Hoole (01:08:59); 40 Nick Chapman (01:15:45); 41 Michael Copeland (01:15:48); 42 Steven Schaefer (01:15:50); 43 Rob Connacher (01:18:25); 44 Keith Reading (01:23:53);

Ladies
1 Jessica Roux (41:35); 2 Chrislie-thandi Niehaus (43:52); 3 Sanmari Woithe (44:27); 4 Rebecca Newman (44:43); 5 Liza Bright (52:02); 6 Denise Bosman (55:30); 7 Ingrid Brown (55:45); 8 Natalie Snodgrass (59:19); 9 Melanie Norden (01:02:38); 10 Angela Ackermann (01:02:43); 11 Elsa Craig (01:04:42); 12 Christine Simpson (01:09:01); 13 Glenda lee Thomas (01:09:04); 14 Heather Paton (01:15:47);

Dis-Chem 1km Ocean Swim
Men
1 Chris Van de sande (12:43); 2 Wesley Wiehahn (13:39); 3 Jonathan Roux (14:01); 4 Giovanni Falco (14:29); 5 Mathew Petzer (14:31); 6 Kurt Van staden (14:35); 7 Ruan Van jaarsveld (16:42); 8 Duncan Edwards (17:03); 9 Brandon Brown (17:06); 10 Cruy Cooke (17:21); 11 Shane Darcy (17:27); 12 Gavin Moore (18:02); 13 Conal Turner (18:04); 14 Emile Van Wiekerk (18:09); 15 Michael Bester (18:15); 16 Dan Howitz (18:18); 17 Michael Cannon (18:21); 18 Shaun Timm (18:29); 19 Justin Fraenkel (18:55); 20 Craig Dickson (19:06); 21 Stefan Jacobs (19:09); 22 Jordan Slabbert (19:18); 23 Rolf Kickhofel (19:22); 24 Chris Green (19:34); 25 Damian Everson (19:43); 26 Stijn Majoor (19:48); 27 Bryan Perry (19:51); 28 Christopher Fourie (19:57); 29 Jason Smith (19:59); 30 Terence Adam (20:04); 31 Craig Harwood (20:07); 32 James Medcalf (20:10); 33 Nicolas Adam (20:15); 34 Simon Young (20:19); 35 Mark Huppelschoten (20:20); 36 Ross Lascelles (20:24); 37 Jeff Stubbings (20:41); 38 Bob Jamieson (20:59); 39 Christian Fraser (21:08); 40 William Hayes (21:12); 41 Charlie Hills (21:15); 42 Chris De Lauwere (21:17); 43 Ryan Kemp (21:20); 44 Matthew Counihan (21:23); 45 Bruce Little (21:27); 46 Donald Maherry (21:30); 47 Johan Dreyer (21:33); 48 Brett Ellis (21:35); 49 Colin Mcall (21:37); 50 Deon Zeelie (21:39); 51 Luke Martin (21:47); 52 Ludeke-andre Niehaus (21:54); 53 Silvio Scribante (22:03); 54 Sian Okeeffe (22:05); 55 Keith Fensham (22:10); 56 Brad Wentel (22:21); 57 Colin Swettenham (22:26); 58 Yaseen Abrahams (22:29); 59 Mkhululi Heka (22:32); 60 Colin Stephen (22:34); 61 Ian Van der walt (22:36); 62 Anthony Hunneyball (22:44); 63 Fulvio Falco (22:48); 64 Strat Stone (22:51); 65 Brian Posselt (22:53); 66 Carl Geyer (22:55); 67 Johnathan Dillon (22:57); 68 Billy Browne (22:58); 69 Matthew Norval (23:02); 70 Danrich Terblanche (23:04); 71 Mark Oosthuizen (23:15); 72 Qhamani Moni (23:17); 73 Kristen Britz (23:20); 74 Dirk Schmidt (23:27); 75 Michael Fowler (23:29); 76 Kwanele Nguqo (23:38); 77 Sivuyile Daymani (23:46); 78 Deon Hattingh (23:50); 79 Andrew Papenhuijzen (23:52); 80 Hugo Leuenberger (23:54); 81 Adam Cooper (23:56); 82 John Wall (24:01); 83 Andrew Van gruting (24:07); 84 Shuaib Abrahams (24:09); 85 Stephen Moore (24:11); 86 Jaco Pretorius (24:13); 87 Darin Wilson (24:19); 88 Marinus Meiring (24:39); 89 Duraan Badenhorst (25:02); 90 Allan Timm (25:05); 91 Andrew Angles (25:07); 92 Graham Terblanche (25:10); 93 Charl De lange (25:13); 94 Gavin Boucher (25:14); 95 Mike Martin (25:19); 96 Andrew Boshoff (25:21); 97 Andre Van biljon (25:26); 98 Grant Atherton (25:37); 99 Luigi Ciarrocchi (26:00); 100 Thys Tromp (26:03); 101 Jonathan Roche (26:21); 102 Roy Heine (26:31); 103 Pravesh Amtha (27:07); 104 Jacques Voigt (27:15); 105 Slade Francis (27:19); 106 Damian Giulietti (27:22); 107 Sakhumzi Gqagqa (27:32); 108 Roger Fraser (27:36); 109 Dieter Rothman (28:41); 110 Foozie Jappie (28:51); 111 Chris Johnson (29:39); 112 Xhanti Fulani (29:54); 113 Reon Van rensburg (30:05); 114 Moegamat Johnson (31:48); 115 Michael De klerk (32:21); 116 Dane Freeman (35:14); 117 Rory Hilton (35:24); 118 Schoombee Pretorius (46:09); 119 Johan Kruger (56:39);

Ladies
1 Carmel Billson (14:25); 2 Lauren Billson (14:37); 3 Tarryn Els (16:37); 4 Cameron Gordon (17:32); 5 Jessie Bruns (17:38); 6 Tammy Geyer (18:06); 7 Francesca Pedrosa (18:25); 8 Candace Sterley (19:14); 9 Adele Van de venter (19:16); 10 Rohini Pillay (19:38); 11 Ingrid Segura sanchez (19:40); 12 Ashleigh Vaughan (20:31); 13 Jane Barnardo (20:50); 14 Michelle Enslin (20:56); 15 Margie Saunders (21:01); 16 Carmen Mould (21:04); 17 Lindsay Dillon (21:10); 18 Sally Van der riet (21:28); 19 Lindy Taverner (21:42); 20 Mariette Hattingh (21:45); 21 Stephani Le roux (21:49); 22 Cameron Gordon (22:00); 23 Alison Critchley (22:14); 24 Christine Keevy (22:16); 25 Robyn Ray (22:24); 26 Jo Tucker (22:42); 27 Ronel Scheepers (23:11); 28 Natasha Klopper (23:13); 29 Kelsey Vaughan (23:22); 30 Crystal Hulett (23:24); 31 Lisa Strauss (24:05); 32 Jennifer Barnard (24:23); 33 Talia Nomdoe (24:25); 34 Tracey Grosse (24:38); 35 Christine Claasen (24:53); 36 Cherryl Gibson-Dicks (24:58); 37 Kim Verwoerd (25:24); 38 Jacky Shapiro (25:32); 39 Tanya Nel (25:40); 40 Mandy Moore (25:44); 41 Trevlyn Lotz (26:04); 42 Chantell Gerber (26:06); 43 Elana Van rooyen (26:08); 44 Michelle Lawson (26:11); 45 Paige Lee (26:13); 46 Meliza Coetzee (26:26); 47 Maria Stott (26:29); 48 Margie Young (26:37); 49 Frenchke Claassen (26:44); 50 Bailey Schoeman (26:49); 51 Lauren Coleman (26:54); 52 Natalie Henshaw (27:05); 53 Deirdre Bezuidenhout (27:24); 54 Kerry-Louise Cassar (27:42); 55 Carlene Du randt (27:47); 56 Sabrina Ciarrochi (28:26); 57 Melanie Rothman (28:39); 58 Jill Barnard (29:32); 59 Thembakazi Jonas (31:44); 60 Marlene Christie (31:50); 61 Brenda Swindells (31:54); 62 Zenda Greddes (31:56); 63 Pearl Segadavan (34:37); 64 Jill Weakley (38:41);

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