By CHARLIE SPRANG
Courier-Post Staff
ATLANTIC CITY
After 22 miles and over six hours, the outcome of the Around the Island Marathon Swim was still very much in doubt.

When they turned the corner at Harrah's and headed toward the Gardner's Basin finish line, it became a tactical race between the leaders, Stephane Gomez of France and Mark Saliba of Australia.

Gomez held a slim lead, but Saliba passed him as they swam under the Brigantine Bridge.

As they got closer to the finish line, they moved away from the lifeguard boats that served as their leads and began an all-out sprint, stroking furiously past the pleasure boats that had congregated near the finish.

With 50 yards to go, Gomez put on one final burst to pass Saliba and pull out an amazing victory.

Gomez finished in 6 hours, 37 minutes, 9 seconds, shattering the course record of 6:56.43, set by David Mecca of Spain in 1999. Saliba's time of 6:37.10 was also well under the record.

"It is very good for me," said Gomez, who finished seventh in 1999 and sixth in 2001. "This was the best time ever in the race and the first time for me winning. I'm very happy."

Angela Maurer of Germany was the first female finisher and sixth overall in 7:00.41, while John Kenny, a member of the Atlantic City Beach Patrol, was the first American, finishing eighth in 7:01.21.

Gomez and Maurer, both ranked second in the most recent FINA Marathon Swimming World Cup standings, each earned $5,000 for winning. That it would come down to Gomez and Saliba was evident early.

Helped by a strong breeze out of the northeast, the first leg of the race was quick, the leaders reaching the Longport jetty in a little over 2 1/2 hours.

Gomez, Saliba, Petar Stoychev of Bulgaria and Gabriel Chaillou of Argentina had established themselves as the front-runners, but the rest of the group of 23 swimmers still had them in sight.

As they wound their way through the back bay and intercoastal waterway, Chaillou and Stoychev dropped off the pace. Chaillou lost contact just before the Margate Bridge, while Stoychev began to fade when they reached the Albany Boulevard Bridge in Atlantic City.

"I think I led the whole way except for maybe one or two times when Mark passed me," Gomez said. "When he passed me under the Brigantine Bridge I just said, `OK, go ahead.' I felt a little bit sick and I don't like to swim real hard when I'm sick.

"I don't know what it was. Maybe I drank some of the (sea) water or it was the waves. I just let him go by and I tried to stay with him. I knew we were going to have to swim hard at the finish."

Saliba, meanwhile, figured his best shot was to pass Gomez then, with just about a half-mile to go, and stretch out that last critical portion of the race. Engaging Gomez in a sprint was not how he wanted to go.

"I'm not really much of a sprinter," Saliba said. "I thought if I passed him at the Brigantine Bridge I could hold him off. But Stephane swam a great race. He was stronger than I was at the end."

Maurer, who finished second among female competitors last year, narrowly beat countrywoman Britta Kamrau. She said her arms began to hurt five hours into the race, but she just focused on winning.

"I tried not to think about the pain," Maurer said. "I just thought about the race and winning. And when I'm thinking about winning, I don't think about the pain. This was very important for me because I need the points for the World Cup."

Kenny had to overcome goggle problems, both pairs he used fogged up on him and he had trouble seeing the entire race, to clock his personal best time. He was 22 seconds faster than when he finished second in 2002.

"A lot of things happened out there," he said. "My visibility was minimal. I couldn't see anything. I ended up passing some people the last half-mile.

"I had hoped to do a little better. But this was a tough field. You have to give these guys a lot of credit."

---

Reach Charlie Sprang at csprang@courierpostonline.com