Race Recap: RE7 North Shore Challenge

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After the 2 races on Saturday, the Series headed over to Lake Erie.  There had been a ton of hype surrounding the 1st annual RE7 North Shore Challenge but as the date grew closer the weather forecast wasn’t looking good. Big storms hit the area Saturday and last most of the night as well. Racers showed up early Sunday morning to the little town of Turkey Point unsure of how the race would unfold or if it would be able to go on at all.

The event was very well organized with a bunch of helpful volunteers. With racer safety as the priority Josh Reid and the rest of the race management decided to delay the race by a couple hours. Unsure of how the conditions would unfold and with the water temperature hovering around 60F a large majority of the 3.8km racers opted to switch to the 1.5km swim. At 10:00 things were finally set for the 1st two races: The 750m splash and dash and the 1.5km sprint.

The 750m was a simple out and back and the 1.5km was an out and back with a left hand turn. The catch to both these races was the waves. The course required swimmers to swim out against the waves to reach the turn around and then come flying back in riding the surf. The toughness added by the waves made the “splash and dash” and “sprint” titles of the race a little less accurate.

Both races started in a mass start that was chaotic and a lot of fun. The shallow sandy water and waves had swimmers bouncing all over the place as they swam out.

The 750m:   This quick out and back wasn’t quite the splash and dash most swimmers thought it would be.  The big waves made the times in the races almost irrelevant.  After 15 minutes of battling in the waves Jennifer Agnew emerged 1st in this one and the North Shore Challenge had it’s 1st ever champion.  Mairi MacGregor came across the line next, winning the wetsuit division.

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Dylan Kent coming out of the water 1st in the 1.5km

The 1.5km: After the initial chaos at the start Dylan Kent seemed to come out with the lead, however being in 1st on the way out had its challenges as the waves made it difficult to sight. A chase pack of Bill Leonard (defending series champion from last year), Chris Peters and Kurt Rohman had an easier time sighting off of Kent and were able to catch up just before the turn around. Coming back the fun really began as all 4 members of the lead group were packed tightly together going stroke for stroke, often crashing into each other due to the waves. Sighting was difficult going into the last buoy. With a tight turn and some help from a big wave Kent was able to come out of the final turn with a slight lead that he was able to hold on to and came across the finish line first in 24:45. Chris Peters came 2nd (25:03) and was followed shortly after by Kurt Rohman (25:10) and Bill Leonard (25:16). Leonard clinched the win for the non-wetsuit division.

Aerial shot of the 3.8km
Aerial shot of the 3.8km

The 3.8km:  After the excitement of the 1st two races, the 3.8km went off a little while later with a much thinner but still very strong crowd.  While the distance was longer and the waves were still large the 3.8km did have the benefit of being able to swim the point-to-point race with the current and didn’t have to battle against the waves like swimmers in the 750m and 1.5km.  Despite the thinned crowd there were still some big names in the field.  Right off the start this one was dominated by Greg Streppel.  Streppel  put up a blistering fast 45:32 to take 1st by a wide margin.  Streppel also won the 2km at Mine Over Matter on Saturday so this big win made him undefeated for the weekend and will certainly help him out in the Global Rankings.  Race Organizers Joshua Reid and Annaleise Carr also competed in the 3.8km.  Reid came 3rd in 1:06 and Carr came 4th (also being 1st female and 1st non-wetsuit) in 1:12:23.  A special recognition also goes to Arjun Krishna who won the Theo Vanderlee Memorial Award for a first time open water racer (3.8km no wetsuit, and he is only 14).

The conditions made for a very exciting day and thanks to some great organization the race went smoothly given the circumstances.  With a great inaugural year in the books there is already excitement building for this race next year.

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Arjun Krishna accepting his award

Results

 

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