21 Nov 2017

Shark scare: 'It chased me into the shallows'

6:53 am on 21 November 2017

Auckland swimmer Sarah O'Grady is vowing to never swim alone again after discovering a shark was pacing her warm up swim in Mount Maunganui's Pilot Bay on Saturday.

She was swimming parallel to the beach before Sunday's Classic Builders Tinman Triathlon, SunLive reports.

A shark in Pilot Bay surprised Auckland swimmer Sarah O’Grady.

A shark in Pilot Bay surprised Auckland swimmer Sarah O’Grady. Photo: Facebook

"A guy on the beach told me it was following me the whole way along the beach and we wish he had a camera. So glad I didn't know about it until the very end of my swim," says Sarah in a Facebook post.

"I didn't know it was following me it was only when I stood up at the end and it was there and then I ran in (tide was low) with it coming in hot behind me! Then a man on the beach told me it had followed me for ages!!

"I swam literally the loop we swam at Pilot Bay. Only found out from a spectator that the shark followed me the whole way back along the beach. I just saw the shark coming towards me after I stopped swimming and then it chased me into the shallows.

"This is why I don't go swimming alone. I was foolishly doing a pre-race swim by myself. Never again."

The same shark starred in a video taken a few minutes later by another Tinman entry with Steven Morris from the Seamen Ocean Swim Squad who dived down to a fairly immobile looking shark on the harbour floor, and captioned it, "Shark selfies in Pilot Bay with Seamen Phillips and Bruce The Bronze Whaler."

- SunLive