Zeches, Richardson Top Tempe Open Water Swims

By Mark Gill

TEMPE, Ariz., June 16. TEMPE Town Lake in Tempe, Arizona, was the site of some fast swimming this past weekend.

On June 12th, the lake hosted the first race of its annual open water swim series. With more than twice as many participants as last year’s race, the field was set for some fun and fast swimming.

Two races were offered: The two-mile Dam-to-Dam Swim and the one-mile Tempe Town Lake Swim.

Dam-to-Dam Swim
The Dam to Dam Swim race stretched the entire length of the lake. Swimmers were ferried to the starting line aboard tour boats used to cruise the lake. At the sound of the gun, they took off for the far dam. Participants included both USA Swimming athletes as well as Masters athletes.

The overall winner of the event, in the time of 39:34, was Chris Zeches from Ford Aquatics. He was closely followed by David Pursley and Chris Voight, both from the Brophy East Swim Team.

Nathan Moore was fourth overall and was the first Masters swimmer to cross the finish line in 40:43. Moore was the overall winner of the one mile swim on the lake last October. Second for the Masters was Mike Melley. Melley barely made it to the shuttle boat on time for the start. However, he had a valid excuse as he had just won the Fat Tire Triathlon, also taking place at the lake that day.

For the women, Tabina Chuk from Tucson was first in a time of 44:22. Kimber Morelli and Marcie Herzog were a close second and third, as only 26 seconds separated the top three women.

Herzog was also the top Masters finisher. Runner up for the Masters was Kathi Lindstrom (6th overall). Lindstrom was the one-mile champion in last October’s Tempe Town Lake Swim.

Tempe Town Lake Swim
The Tempe Town Lake Swim was won by Ryan Richardson, age 17, in a time of 23:09. He finished 4 seconds ahead of second place Austin Thompson.

The top female finisher, Kelsey Roggensack, was third overall in 24:40. Kathi Lindstrom, the female Masters runner-up in the Dam-to-Dam Swim, was the top overall Masters finisher in this race. She beat out the top male Masters finisher, Chris Aikman, who also swam both races.

For complete race results, visit www.dcbadventures.com.

DCB Extreme Adventures will be hosting more races on Tempe Town Lake on October 2nd as part of the city’s Oktoberfest celebration.

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