River at low ebb for swim
Swimmers are crossing their fingers low Waikato River levels will not affect the 74th 5 Bridges River Swim scheduled for April 7.
River levels are at extremely low levels as Lake Taupo and hydro lake storage capacities dwindle.
Organiser and multiple former winner Eleanor Pinfold says 150 to 200 entries are expected.
"We have 34 entries, which is right on schedule. We usually have about 65 entries up until the day before, then about the same number register on the day.
Hamilton's Sarah Mortimer, the fastest woman entrant for the past two years, will try for three in a row. She has been in good form with some solid performances in open water events.
A fourth win in her 25 to 29 year age group in the 2013 open water series at Mt Maunganui last weekend saw her secure a series win. She intends to contest the 2.8km fifth series swim at Takapuna on April 6, the day before the river swim.
Sarah works for Water Safety NZ and Sport Waikato assisting schools with swimming and water safety education.
She attended Fairfield College and in days gone by was a competitive freestyle swimmer in 50m and 100m sprints.
She says the number of youngsters and adults who cannot swim is a concern and hopes more funds will become available to teach children and older people to swim.
There is no record time for the event as the distance has varied because of currents and water levels.
"Since I've been organising it (10 years) the distance has increased to 7.1km. which equates to about 3km as competitors swim with the current.
"We always get a group together after work on the Wednesday before the event to test out the swim."
