Monday, September 6, 1999

By Craig T. Kojima, Star-Bulletin
The"A" section begins today's Waikiki Roughwater Swim
at San Souci Beach.

Olympian wins
Roughwater swim

Australian Malcolm Allen
is first out of the water in the
annual Labor Day event

By Ben Henry
Special to the Star-Bulletin

Australia's Malcolm Allen finished first in today's Waikiki Roughwater Swim with a time of 49 minutes, 59 seconds.

Allen, who swam for Australia in the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, didn't know what to expect.

"I didn't expect to win the race because it's so open," he said. "Anything can happen. I just hoped for the best."

Allen's strategy was to gain a comfortable lead to finish the race.

"I was able to catch a good wave coming in toward the flat," he said.

For Jodi Jackson, the top women's finisher at 55:54, this was her first win in a lifetime of tries.

"I've never done this (finished first) before. I've been doing this race since I was a kid," Jackson said.

Jackson, who grew up in Hawaii and attended Stanford, trains at the University of Hawaii's Duke Kahanmoku pool with UH's masters program.

"A lot of that training was geared toward open-water swimming," she said.

Ky Hurst, 18, was the second men's finisher with a time of 50:28. John Flanagan, 24, was Hawaii's top male finisher, in third place at 50:31.