Female
1 Heidi Alexander    25m 42s
2 Marisa Pentecost   26 05
3 Nicole Cope        26 07
4 Nicola de Lautour  26 28
8 Debbie Tanner      26 31
6 Kirsty Whiting     26 53
7 Naomi Calder       27 39
8 Yoko Hori          28 01
9 Sione Jongstra     28 02
10 Josie Sinclair    28 04
11 Elizabeth Orchard 28 07
12 Jennifer Cooper   28 15
13 Leanne Johnston   28 24
14 Leanne Matchett   28 32
15 Gayle Clark       28 37

Male
1 Rodney Gordon      23m 47s
2 Clark Ellice       24 15
3 Chris Williams     24 22
4 Dean Foster        24 24
5 Paul Angland       24 48
6 Jonathon Counsell  24 52
7 Craig Tulloch      24 55
8 James Elvery       24 57
9 Steven Nicholls    25 07
10 Chris Ritchie     25 08
11 Ian Horsburgh     25 25
12 Stuart Blake      25 44
13 Dennis Wakefield  25 46
14 Simon Geach       25 53
15 Oliver Tompkins   26 16


Stroke & Stride Grand Prix
Points after Race #6
  Female             Points
1 Heidi Alexander    110
2 Marisa Pentecost    97
3 Debbie Tanner       82
4 Nicole Cope         74
5 Kirsty Whiting      65
6 Nicola de Lautour   57
7 Naomi Calder        48
8 Sue Clark           47
9 Leanne Johnston     20
10 Sione Jongstra     18
11 Rebecca Nesbit     14
12T Shantelle Bliss   13
12T Tracey Fromow     13
12T Leanne Matchett   13
15 Gayle Clark        12
16 Koumagawa Yukie    11
17T Katie Bennett      9
17T Jennifer Cooper    9
17T Udi-Ann Delport    9
17T Brooke Pattle      9
17T Josie Sinclair     9
22 Yoko Hori           8
23T Elen Clarke        7
23T Elizabeth Orchard  7
25 Philippa Reed       6
26T Louise Boulanger   4
26T Jade Gilbertson    4
28T Hayley Swaving     3
28T Cindy Taylor       3
30 Vanessa Palmer      2
31T Julia Cree         1
31T Kelly O'Donnell    1
31T Janet Tyler        1


 Male              Points
1 Brent Foster       100
2 Rodney Gordon       82
3 William Green       75
4 Chris Williams      47
5 Clark Ellice        39
6 Jonathon Counsell   38
7 Stuart Blake        32
8T Paul Angland       31
8T Steven Nicholls    31
10 James Elvery       27
11 Chris Ritchie      26
12 Dean Jagusch       21
13 Marty Birch        20
14T Oliver Tompkins   19
14T Simon Geach       19
16 Haydn Woolley      17
17T Richard Harding   15
17T Craig Tulloch     15
17T Dennis Wakefield  15
20T Dean Foster       13
20T Taku Obara        13
22T Jochen Cals       11
22T Ken Hight         11
22T Dylan Mordaunt    11
25 Craig Johns         9
26T Jean Luc Boulanger 8
26T Ian Horsburgh      8
26T Shingo Tani        8
29T Tony Hawkes        6
29T Quentin Smith      6
31 Kirk Trigance       5
32 Lewis Prebble       4
33 Tom Forch           2
34T Dave Chambers      1
34T Nicholas Wedde     1

Race #6 in this season's Stroke & Stride Series saw columns of white caps marching down the Waitemata Harbour and spray flying from the battered yachts racing out on the water. These conditions were all thanks to the gale strength Easterly again blowing through Auckland. The towering cliffs beside Ladies Bay provided some protection to St Heliers Bay enabling the 500 metre swim to be conducted in relative calm. Perhaps more daunting for competitors would be the return leg of the 5 kilometre run into the teeth of the wind.

Once again Rebecca Nesbit was in a class of her own throughout the swim leg having opened up an eight second lead over Marisa Pentecost and Debbie Tanner with Naomi Calder, Kirsty Whiting, Yoko Hori and a host of others all following in close succession. This mix of distances was expected to favour the runners and in the races to date it had been Heidi Alexander and Nicole Cope who had been clocking the fastest run splits. After today's swim Heidi set out on the run with a 60 second deficit with Nicole a further 20 seconds behind. No gasps of surprise were heard when defending Series Champion Heidi Alexander rounded the turn from Kohimarama Beach with a handy lead and ran through for her fourth victory of the season.

Perhaps this season's revelation in the women's field has been the 1993/94 Series Champion Marisa Pentecost having her best season for years. This time out Marisa combined a gritty run with her stellar swim to hold out Nicole Cope for second by just two seconds. Nicola de Lautour and Debbie Tanner cat and moused it out throughout the run before Nicola got the upper hand in the final few hundred metres and took fourth spot.

Craig Tulloch's surf background means he likes the swim the rougher the better and obviously today's conditions were to his liking as he lead the men from the water in a shade over six minutes. A 500 metre swim doesn't do much to separate them out and a stream of men quickly followed him into transition. A lot of attention had been focused on Rodney Gordon leading into this event with many saying that his improvement through the season and today's mix of distances could make him the man to beat. Rodney was looking at a 70 second deficit as he swapped from wetsuit to running shoes in the transition area. Well Rodney eats up the miles on the run like others eat up the contents in their race packs and he grabbed the lead and then the win in convincing manner.

This was Rodney's first ever victory in a Stroke & Stride and just to give you an idea of how tough this accomplishment is to achieve; the last time we had a first up winner in the men's field was way back in February 1997. Age gave way to experience on this occasion but also having some of their best ever results were 16 year old Clark Ellice and 15 year old Chris Williams in second and third respectively. Fourth place went to that long time campaigner Dean Foster with the speedy Paul Angland in fifth. Heidi Alexander and Brent Foster continue to lead and look secure in their bids to win another Series Grand Prix. Marisa Pentecost is the closest of the women while Rodney Gordon has now slipped past William Green into second place. Six races down, two to go. The next race on March 2, 1999 will be the 75th Stroke & Stride.