Neill, Hansen can't be separated at end

It was an appropriate finale to the Port Nelson Summer Sea Swim Series last night as Fraser Neill and Matthew Hansen went head to head.

The pair slogged it out over the familiar 1200m course from the yacht club ramp to the wharf, south to the "dolphin" marker and then back to the finish, finishing in a dead heat in a time of 15min 49sec.

Veteran Ben Van Dyke, fresh from setting six national records in the 60-64 age group, followed them home in 16.35, just two seconds ahead of Daryl Henehan, a consistent performer through the season.

With the water at a season-low temperature of 18 degrees Celsius, it was an appropriate night to end the season, although 109 swimmers weren't daunted, leaving the average turnout for the 13-week season at 120. Over that time, swimmers covered a total of nearly 5000km, enough to swim to Australia and back.

When the final best-of-10 results were added to the points table, Hansen took the champion's trophy for the second consecutive year, with Henehan and Neill sharing second, although national competition obligations meant Neill had only nine swims to contribute.

Zoe Borrell couldn't make last night's swim, but the 15-year-old already had 99 points from 10 swims, enough to head off Kirstin Ramsay and Kerry Mathieson for the season. Mathieson took the honours last night in 18.34 ahead of Ramsay (18.44).

Eddie Neill raced home in 8.26, 20 seconds ahead of Luke Kelly, in the short swim of 550m. Pippa Cornish (9.38) and Melissa Harding (9.59) were the first women to finish.

Cornish took the junior short swim season crown ahead of Harding, while in the boys, it was Kelly ahead of Wesley Harris.

In the open section of the short swim, Elliot Harris won the season from Kelvin Williams, and Miriam Jones was consistent to defeat Miranda Wood Van Dyke.

In an interesting twist, Van Dyke swapped to the long course in the final weeks of the season and placed third in the 50-59 section there as well.

Age group season winners in the long course swims were Jack Thornton and Zoe Borrell (under-16), Fenn Anderson and Vanessa Price (16-19), Daryl Henehan and Kirstin Ramsay (20-29), Matthew Hansen and Belinda Reburn (30-39), Hamish Neill and Kerry Mathieson (40-49), Ben Van Dyke and Margaret Johnston (50-59) and Derek Eaton (60+ men). At the age of 68, Eaton was the second-oldest regular swimmer of the 360 who took part at various times throughout the season.

- © Fairfax NZ News