The water was LOW in the Waiau (0.44 m below normal) and everyone got to 'touch' something during their journey down it.  No one was seriously hurt though, and most agreed that it was pretty exciting to always think you were about to come face to face with a giant submerged boulder.  The temperature was relatively warm however, and it was a fine day.  (Fun fact: The fastest time this year was nearly 30 minutes slower than the fastest result from 2017, when the river was over 2 meters higher.)  RESULTS

A great day on the water!  The field moved quickly across the lake (with a few extra swimmers joining for the first 3 km) and then into the river where most seemed to take it easy and 'float' through much of it, saving energy for the long haul in lake Manapouri.  A little NW'er picked up and pushed the swimmers home by the afternoon.  RESULTS

The water was LOW in the Waiau (0.25 m below normal), but not as low as last year. It was warm and overcast and we had nearly as many support boaters as swimmers. It was a good event with 3 seconds separating the first two swimmers, and only seven minutes separating the whole field.  One swimmer swam without a wetsuit. Everyone agreed that was pretty dumb, including the swimmer in question. RESULTS