Records set in Bell Buoy challenge

THE Nelson Mandela Bay Bell Buoy Challenge held on Saturday will be remembered as a record-breaking event. It not only featured the highest number of entries, but also the highest number of finishers and the oldest participant for the race. Just more than 100 participants entered the tough 5km Indian Ocean swim which sees participants swim about 2.5km directly out to sea around a cardinal marker buoy and back again in testing conditions. Conditions on Saturday were extremely flat for the swimmers due to the moderate off-shore winds, ensuring that all participants reached the buoy in under 50 minutes. Coming back was not as easy with some swimmers taking more than two hours 30 minutes to complete the second half of the race and one swimmer being withdrawn for not reaching the cut-off point in time as competitors battled against an outgoing tide and into the wind. Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University student Byron Locket led from start to finish to become only the second Port Elizabeth winner of the swim. He finished in a fast 1:01: 53, ahead of 15-year-old Dylan Smith and Pretoria swimming legend Gary Albertyn. PE's Kirsten Marriott finished the swimsuit category in fifth place overall in a time of 1:08:18 to claim the women's title from Genna Greevelink and Tammy Geyer. Meanwhile, Jendamark's Gustav Lokotsch won the wetsuit race in a time of 1:04:34 from Miles Rosser and Jason Kalogeropoulos. Amy Mardon, 15, won the wetsuit women's category in 1:16, ahead of Natalie Goedhals and Idelette Olivier. The oldest participant to complete the Bell Buoy Challenge was 80-year-old Rob Connacher, coming 60th in the wetsuit category in a time of 2:53.