Foster, Warriner Again Reign in Stroke & Stride

The women's race went to Samantha Warriner, who also successfully regained her 2003 Stroke & Stride Series overall title with her victory.

Race day again brought glorious weather, leading race director Craig Browne to breathe a heavy sigh of relief and marvel at the incredible run of blue skies he's enjoyed since the series began in November.

"The sequence of great weather through this summer was unprecedented as not once this season have competitors endured a battering from winds or dampening from rain. Summer how it should be," he said.

At the start of the 1,000-meter swim for the men, Foster and Reed broke away early and, despite his best efforts, Fozzie was unable to shake his tenacious countryman from his toes. A small group headed by Matthew Burbury-King and Foster's brother, Dean, exited nearly a minute behind them. Once onto the 4k run, Foster found he again could not match Reed's blistering pace but he fought to stay close and away from the chasers behind—many of the same bunch who'd caught him two weeks earlier and relegated him to an unusual fourth place as Reed took the win. This time, Foster held on to second with triathlete speedster Kris Gemmell, in his Stroke & Stride debut, in third with the day's fastest run.

In the women's race, series newcomer Anja Dittmer of Germany was again on the start line, looking to cause another upset although she wasn't an overall threat to the series hopes of defending series champ Samantha Warriner. Dittmer exited the water first, coming out with Debbie Tanner and

Warriner, with Sarah Pattison just ten seconds back. "After what looked like a sedate swim the women’s field had taken their gloves off for their run and some big punches were now being thrown," Browne said. "Swinging hardest looked to be Samantha Warriner as she stormed to the head of the field running beneath her beloved pohutukawas. When you add the day's fastest run split to a stellar swim then it should be an unstoppable combination and so it proved as she sealed the victory and back-to-back New Zealand SWIMRUN titles." Tanner held on to second with Dittmer third after back-to-back wins in races 6 and 7.

Warriner was the clear winner in the Series Grand Prix, with 114 points. Tanner was second with 95 points, with Nicole Cope third with 88. Among the men, Foster had come into the race with a slim two-point lead in the series over challenger Clark Ellice, a rising star who won two Stroke & Stride races this season along with the New Zealand and Oceania triathlon championships in a dream season. Ellice has been at or near the top in all the Stroke & Stride races so far, but had to settle for fifth on Wednesday, and it wasn't enough to dethrone Foster. In the Grand Prix, it was Foster first with 110 points to Ellice's 102; Sam Walker held down third with 74 points.

Overall series prizes for elites and for age-groupers were handed out on Thursday evening at the annual series awards dinner. There's more here.

RESULTS
Structured Finance Stroke & Stride Series, race 8
Wednesday, March 9 2005; St. Heliers Bay, Auckland, NZ
(1000m swim/4k run)

WOMEN

1) Samantha Warriner (NZL) 27:37
2) Debbie Tanner (NZL) 28:25
3) Anja Dittmer (GER) 28:36
4) Carmel Hanly (NZL) 28:47
5) Nicole Cope (NZL) 29:07

MEN
1) Shane Reed (NZL) 24:53
2) Brent Foster (NZL) 25:17
3) Kris Gemmell (NZL) 25:31
4) Daniel Lee (HKG) 25:51
5) Clark Ellice (NZL) 26:15