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John Kirk Anderson/Stuff
John Marshall, 87, flew down from the North Island for the swimming event, only for it to be cancelled just hours before.
An 87-year-old man who flew down from Tauranga to take part in a harbour swimming event near Christchurch was told it was cancelled with a text message just hours before the start.
John Marshall had trained intensively for La Grande Swim, one of nine events in the Banana Boat New Zealand Ocean Swim Series, sometimes swimming seven days a week and up to four kilometres a day.
He arrived in Akaroa outside Christchurch for the five kilometre swim event at 4pm on Friday, but received a text message about 30 minutes later stating it was cancelled and would not go ahead at 5.30am on Saturday as planned.
The last minute cancellation meant hundreds of participants from around New Zealand went home disappointed.
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John Kirk Anderson/Stuff
Marshall received a text message the night before the event telling him it was cancelled.
Christchurch City Council declined a permit to the event organisers the day before the race was due to take place because the national health authority had warned of health risks related to water quality issues.
“It was a bit disappointing,” Marshall said.
“Most of the disappointment was that I heard that the water quality had been checked that day and it was OK to swim.”
Marshall’s daughter, Tracy Newell, said she thought the text message was a joke at first.
“It was devastating.
“I was devastated for them all. We didn’t know why it was cancelled. It seemed bizarre.”
La Grande Swim is the only South Island event in the ocean swim series, which consists of open water swims across three different distances for adults and two for children.
The cancellation has again raised issues about the testing and grading of Canterbury beaches.
John Kirk Anderson/Stuff
Marshall had been training hard in prepartion for the event, sometimes swimming many kilometres a day, seven days a week.
Event organisers posted on social media about the cancellation at 4.35pm on Friday.
In the post, organisers said “all we know so far is that Te Whatu Ora – Health New Zealand have put out public health advice that Christchurch Council have taken on board (as they absolutely should!) – this was based off NO TESTING but historic data. They did this today, the day people are arriving in Akaroa.”
They subsequently posted lab results from the morning of Feburary 25, showing minimal levels of micro bacteria (less than 10 per 100ml), which they say pointed to “crystal clear” water.
Council head of recreation, sports and events Nigel Cox said they were not in a position to issue an event permit on the basis of the clear advice from Te Whatu Ora of an “overall elevated risk of illness at the Akaroa beach site at all times”, and that there were “no mitigation measures that an event organiser could put in place to reduce this risk.”
Cox said the council told event organisers the decision “would have been reviewed” if they had completed water quality testing to show the water was suitable for swimming, “however this was unable to be conducted in time.”
He said the decision to cancel the event was made by the event organisers.
Cox said the council sought advice from Environment Canterbury, who in turn obtained advice from Te Whatu Ora. The water quality advice was given to council by Te Whatu Ora on Friday morning.
The advice was that swimming at Akaroa’s Main Beach had an “overall elevated risk of illness”. This advice was first given to council in October and had remained the same ever since.
The advice was based on water quality testing results provided by Environment Canterbury. Akaroa’s main beach was given a long-term grade of poor (not suitable for swimming) in October last year, which was communicated to council at the time.
The long term grade is based on five years of bacteria sampling and may not reflect water quality on any given day.
The 2023 Makos Zonal Secondary School Open Water Swimming Championships, co hosted by the Banana Boat New Zealand Ocean Swim Series and Swimming NZ and held alongside La Grande Swim, was also cancelled.
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