Waves can't stop ocean swimmer Pat Owens-Bohme

Northland ocean swimmer Pat Owens-Bohme overcame huge waves at the King of the Bays race in Auckland to win her race division and the overall title in the State Ocean Swim Series.
After winning the women's 70-74 age group sections in the Pahia-Russell race and at Mt Maunganui she needed a win on Saturday to clinch the national title and she didn't let a minor detail like a 2m swell put her off.
"It never crossed my mind to pull out," she said.
The 2.8km course from Milford Beach to Takapuna was changed just before the race briefing into two 750m laps of a triangular course off Takapuna Beach. While 193 of the 844 swimmers who had entered withdrew from the race, either because of conditions or the last-minute course change, Owens is made of sterner stuff.
"It was pretty bad, there were huge waves but because they shortened the race to 1500m.
"The main problem was it was so crowded with so many people. People were swimming over your legs and jostling you around the markers," she said.
Jockeying for position among the 650 swimmers made it a harder for Owens to find her rhythm but the months of training didn't let her down and she completed the course in 551st position overall in a time of 27 minutes, 14 seconds.
"It was a pretty good time, I was happy with that ... the only difficulty was trying to find the marker at times because when you'd look up there'd be a big wave in front of you," she said.
The 72-year-old was elated to have won the title in her first year of competition and plans to defend it next year.
"They gave me a very large gold medal, set inside a plaque and bottle of champagne and a special certificate because I was the oldest female swimmer to swim the course," she said.
She will have a break to "catch up with all the things I haven't done while I've been training" and plans to start the 2011-12 series with the Auckland Harbour Swim, which she has never attempted.
Henry Wiseman won the King of the Bays title, beating Ross Anderson by 10 seconds in a time of 14.20. Danielle McKenzie was the first female home in 15.50.
Organisers of the State Ocean swim series haven't enjoyed the best of fortune in the popular national series this year.
The Takapuna race wasn't the only weather-affected race; the Mt Maunganui race had to be re-routed through calmer waters of Pilot Bay and the Christchurch race was cancelled.