Paihia will be three times the race for this keen competitor

While nearly 800 people will be setting their sights on swimming 3.3km from Russell to Paihia tomorrow, Auckland's Geoff Carter will swim the crossing three times to clock up 10km as part of his training regime.
The 60-year-old electrical engineer is using the State Russell to Paihia swim - race two of the State New Zealand Ocean Swim Series - as preparation for a goal he set a couple of years ago, to be the oldest person to swim across the Cook Strait.
"I was at the Chelsea swim (Herne Bay to Chelsea Sugar Works) and a couple of ladies were planning to swim the Cook Strait, and I realised they weren't that much quicker than I was and I thought - if they could do it, then so could I," Carter said.
One of those women - 55-year-old Pam Dickson - completed the 22km distance in March, and currently holds the record as the oldest person to swim from the North Island to the South Island. In January, Carter will attempt to re-jig the record books.
Carter has always been a keen casual swimmer but recently he became interested to see what he was capable of if he trained properly for an event.
"I have spent probably the last six months training really seriously. I have been swimming 20km a week throughout winter without a wetsuit, and over the next month I will try to ramp it up to about 40km a week ... the Cook Strait Crossing is 22km in a straight line, but it will end up being about 26km with the tides working against you."
The same rules that govern attempts to swim across the English Channel apply to swimmers who want cross the Cook Strait. That means no wetsuits are allowed, swimmers are not allowed to touch the boat accompanying them and have to clear the water at the end.
Swimming in 10C water during the winter had been good practice for the cold water temperatures in the Strait, Carter said.
"So long as I keep up a good work rate I should be fine. The crunch comes when you start getting tired and you cannot generate enough heat."
However, the biggest hurdle Carter will have to overcome is the weather. "The swim will take about eight to nine hours, so it will be difficult to get flat conditions for the entire time. But I'm hoping for 10 knots variable or less, otherwise they don't allow it to go ahead," he said.
Carter's allocated tidal window is from January 27-31, when the tides are lowest and most safe to try and swim across the Cook Strait.
In the meantime, Carter said he was looking forward to swimming in the Russell to Paihia race in the warmer waters of the Bay of Islands tomorrow, which starts at 11.30am.