Posted on: Tuesday, September 2, 2003

Australians conquer rough swim

Of the 947 swimmers who started yesterday's race, 590 failed to finish and 361 had to be rescued. Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser

By Brandon Masuoka
Advertiser Staff Writer

Australia's Grant Cleland and Trudee Hutchinson outlasted a talented field and Mother Nature to win the 34th annual Waikiki Roughwater Swim yesterday.

Cleland, 25, and Hutchinson, 22, were two of a record-low 357 swimmers to finish the 2.384-mile swim from San Souci Beach to Duke Kahanamoku Beach in front of the Hilton Hawaiian Village.

A total of 947 swimmers started yesterday's race, but a record 590 of them were bullied into submission by a strong current. More than 360 were rescued by city lifeguards, the Coast Guard and the Honolulu Fire Department.

The treacherous waters were also blamed for the slowest times in the event's history with no one finishing under 60 minutes.

Cleland finished in 1 hour, 4 minutes and 25 seconds, followed by last year's winner Alex Kostich of Los Angeles (1:05:30), Ryk Neethling of Tucson, Ariz., (1:05:43), University of Hawai'i swimmer Andrew Affleck (1:05:48) and Punahou senior Noa Sakamoto (1:13:00).

Hutchinson won her second Roughwater title since 2001 and finished seventh overall in 1:17:16 followed by UH swimmer Jessica Affleck (10th overall, 1:17:37), Nadine Day of Danville, Ill., (23rd, 1:18:28) and Kate McLellan of Sydney, Australia, (35th, 1:23:03).

"It was very tough," Cleland said. "We were swimming straight into the current and the current was pretty strong. At parts, you were going nowhere. So to finish it, it's good. But to win, it's even better."

From the start, Cleland began to pull away from the lead pack after he rounded the first buoy 677 meters offshore.

Cleland said he had a "rough idea" he was in the lead for the majority of the swim, but he was not certain because the messy surf obstructed his view of opponents.

"I was trying to look around for the guys, but you can't really see, it was so choppy," Cleland said. "I just kept swimming and focusing on what I was doing and I took it from there."

In the final 842 meters, Cleland turned around the final buoy and felt "relief" on his approach to Duke Kahanamoku Beach.

"It was great because you didn't have the current in your face," Cleland said. "It was still hitting you from the side, but it wasn't hitting you in the face."

Kostich commended Cleland for swimming a smart race in tough conditions.

"He snuck by us," Kostich said. "That's always been a strategy of mine to get out ahead before anyone can see who I am and just disappear in the waves. I guess he beat me at my own game. I was a little disappointed, but at my age it's good to be just in the game."

The water conditions wore down everyone, including Sakamoto, considered one of the race favorites by organizers. Sakamoto was coming off his first national swimming title at USA Swimming's 5-kilometer open-water swimming championship at Pohic Bay in Lorton, Va., on Aug. 10.

"It was really choppy this year," said Sakamoto, the state high school champion in the 200- and 500-yard freestyles. "It made it kind of hard to find your stroke. After that first buoy, I was with the top guys, but I basically fell behind at least 50 people. After a while, I found my stroke and started catching up again."

In the women's competition, Hutchinson overtook Jessica Affleck late in the race and held her slim lead the rest of the way.

"I think I was in front of (Hutchinson) most of the race," Jessica Affleck said. "But about three-quarters of the way, she came up beside me and on the way in she got in front."

Added Hutchinson: "I know that there were two of us at the last turn buoy. It was just both of us going for it. I just sort of got away at the end. It was pretty close."

Notes: Thirteen-year-old Jessica Lau was one of the youngest finishers yesterday. The Iolani eighth-grader placed 283rd in 2:22:21. "It was really hard," Lau said. "When I got to halfway, I thought of quitting, but I just kept swimming."