Foster, Warriner Win December Stroke & Stride

The third race in the series opened with a 1,000-meter swim in calm conditions—and rounding the first buoy Foster showed he was able to break free even in good conditions. By the time he exited the water in a scorching 11:12, he had a 30-second advantage over all the chasers, with Matthew Burbury-King and Ben Riley the nearest competition. "What does it take to catch Brent Foster after a blistering 1000 metre swim with only three kilometres in front of him and a handy 30 seconds lead?" race director Craig Browne asks. "We've never yet found the answer to that question, and this week the answer eludes us once again as Fozzie hammers it out to the turnaround cone, which then sets the defending series champion up for his second win of this series."

In second place, for the second race in a row, was young gun Clark Ellice. After winning the opening race (with Foster absent), Ellice holds on to his first place in the series standings. In third was James Elvery.

In the women's race, a group of four formed on the swim, with Kirsty Whiting exiting the water first with Debbie Tanner, Samantha Warriner and Rebecca Spence hot on her heels. Warriner, two-for-two in the series, needed to put together a fast run to hold on to her win streak.

"For this race the run is just a quick three kilometres only as far as Kohimarama and return, which sort of rules out any elaborate tactics or carefully formulated race plans," Browne said. "If you want to deal to your opposition you just jam the accelerator to the floor, pin your ears back and run as fast as you can. This season Samantha Warriner seems to have found the ability to do this better than anyone and only 500 metres into the run she?d blown past the others and set herself up for win number three." Tanner battled with Whiting all the way to the finish, when she surged to secure a second-place finish. Thanks to her three wins in three starts, Warriner sits comfortably atop the grand prix standings with five races remaining.

The next race will be Jan. 11. There's more here.