South Africa’s world 10 K swim champ Chad Ho made it three wins out of three at the 2011 Redhouse River Mile. Chad is a genuine medal contender for South Africa at the next Olympic Games.
Chad Ho won the Midmar and the Redhouse River Miles in 2011
For full results of the 2011 Spar Redhouse River Mile, click here
Open water swimming is a fledgling sport in South Africa and does not as yet receive the media attention it deserves.
With the 10K marathon swim debuting as an Olympic event, this is sure to change. Chad Ho, South Africa’s 10K specialist is among the top 5 swimmers in the world over this distance will become a household name should he win gold in the 2012 Olympic Games. There is another side to the sport, where athletes push the boundaries way beyond the marathon swim limits.
The English Channel is somewhat of a holy grail amongst the open water swimmers while in South Africa the Robben Island to Cape Town or Freedom Swim is gaining in popularity and could well become one of the iconic open water swims in the world.
Carina Bruwer is one of South Africa’s most accomplished open water swimmers not only for breaking world records but for attempting swims in shark infested and cold water.
Carina Bruwer is a musician and one South Africa's best open water swimmers Photo: http://www.sterlingeq.co.za
Carina has completed many great swims including:
Check out more about one of South Africa’s great swimmers here
Carina is also member of a band called Sterling EQ and more can be found about this excellent instrumental quartet by watching the video below:
Kouga swimmers have enjoyed a busy two weeks of galas and open water swimming with C league galas taking place in Port Elizabeth and the Redhouse River Mile which took place on Sunday.
Up and coming Jeffreys Bay swimmer Kyle De Villiers proved that he can successfully compete in open water as well as pool swimming when he followed up his victory in the 500m at the EP Open Water swim champs with a string of solid results in the C league galas.
Kyle De Villiers keeping his head still on his way to winning the backstroke at a gala in Port Elizabeth
At the first C League, Kyle was unstoppable, winning the butterfly, backstroke and freestyle races and coming second in the breastroke in his age group. At the second C league gala held on this past Saturday, Kyle yet again achieved three first places. He trains with the Kouga Swim Club in Jeffreys Bay and together with his dad, Ivan and younger brother Aiden has a love for water. “I want to be a Springbok swimmer one day and know I have to work hard at training to achieve my goal”, said Kyle. “I love swimming and want to win the 500m at the next Kouga Express EP Open Water Swim Series”.
There were good results from a number of the Kouga swimmers at the first C league gala with Pieter Ellis, Andre Saunders, Danie Ellis, Kim Seyfert, Clarion Prudon, Wiandre De Jager, Janel Daffue and Marco Venter all winning races. Brother and sister combination Wilmien and Lodewyk Van Biljon continue to improve as do Johan and Andre Smit. The full results of the second gala were not available at time of going to print.
Chad Ho the Springbok Open Water swimmer from Durban successfully defended his title at the 2010 Spar Redhouse River Mile on Sunday, beating off Frank Greeff and Byron Lockett. Ho finished the race in just over 13 minutes said that he went out and built a lead and make sure that he kept it throughout the race. Dominique Dryding from Cape Town won the women’s race from Micaela Barnes. Brenton Williams, the coach of the Kouga Swim Club won the men’s 41 – 50 age group while veteran Jeffreys Bay swimmer Mally Richards had a good swim and completed his 57th Redhouse River Mile. Shaun King (12 yrs) from St Francis Bay had an impressive race against the older competitors and was the top finisher from Kouga, coming 17th overall out of 378 men who completed the Mile. Caro De Jager (11 years old) from Jeffreys Bay was the top women finisher from Kouga coming 23rd overall out of 353 women finishers. Full results for the C league galas and the Redhouse River Mile can be found at here.
Open water swimmers will be gearing up for the 6th and final event of the Kouga Express EP Open Water Swim Series which will take place at Marina Martinique next Sunday. Indications are that there will be more entries in the 10 KM swim as swimmers will be testing their fitness levels in preparation for the inaugural 8 KM Bell buoy reef swim in Port Elizabeth which will form part of the Splash Festival. Swimmers can also enter the Axxess DSL Ocean racing Series this Sunday and choose between a 1 KM and a 3 KM swim.
After a two week layoff, 244 open water swimmers took to the water in perfect conditions at Hobie Beach in Port Elizabeth on Sunday. 21 degree water and calm conditions saw some of the fastest times ever swum in the Axxess DSL Ocean Racing Series.
Chad Ho won the 2010 Midmar Mile, straight after claiming 2 silver medals in the FINA 10 K World Cup
Mike Zoetmulder, the race organizer said that over the past five years since the Series started, there have been a few special days and Sunday was certainly up there with the best. “The conditions were tailor made for swimming with perfect visibility, sunshine and no wind”, said Zoetmulder. “The times swimmers recorded were around ten minutes faster than usual, which shows just how good the conditions were”.
Veteran open water swimmer Russell Tucker, who is leading the rankings in the men’s O/50 category concurred with Zoetmulder and said that he has rarely seen such pristine conditions in Algoa Bay. “It was so good that a small group of us even went and swam another 2 K straight after the race’, said Tucker.
Frank Greeff won the 3 K swim from Michael Marais, who recently won the 10 K swim at the EP Champs in Jeffreys Bay. Rising open water swim sensation Wayne Jones came 3rd. Open water swim queen Jessica Roux remained unbeaten in the women’s division beating Rebecca Newman into 2nd position. Richden Jute had an impressive swim in the masters division.
Chris van Der Sande won the 1 K event from Andrew Fischer while Carmel Billson beat her sister Lauren in the women’s section. Ralph West continued on his winning way in the men’s O/40 division.
Full results can be found on here
Local swimmers have been hard at training at Marina Martinique with the adult group showing strong growth this summer. According to Brenton Williams the coach of the Kouga Swim Club the morning training sessions have attracted new swimmers as well as drawing some old competitive swimmers back into the sport. “The challenges that open water swimmers face are totally different to that of a pool and the master’s swimmers seem to enjoy this aspect”, said Williams.
“The Friday afternoon sessions have become so popular that the adult swimmers will now be training at 4.30 PM as we now need two groups to cater for the numbers”. These training sessions are only open for Club swimmers.
South African Olympic open water swimmer Chad Ho continued on the winning path in South America when he claimed his second silver medal in two races in the FINA 10 K World Cup. Ho said afterwards that he felt good throughout the race and was very happy with his results in the World Cup.
Ho then flew back to South Africa in time to win the Midmar Mile in Kwazulu/Natal. Chad will be in action at the Redhouse River Mile which will be held at Sundays River just outside Port Elizabeth on 28 February. Full results of the Midmar Mile can be found here
Jessica Roux remained unbeaten in open water swimming in the Eastern Cape over the weekend when she won the women’s 10 K swim and the 3 K swim at the inaugural Eastern Province Open Water Swim Champs held at Marina Martinique.
Jessica Roux on her way to victory in the gruelling 10 K swim at the EP Open Water Swim Champs
Michael Marais won the men’s 10 K event with both Roux and Marais recording South African national 10 K qualifying times. After the race Roux said the swim was tough but she was happy with her time and was looking forward to the South African National Championships that will be held in Durban in April. ‘The swim was also great preparation for the Bell Buoy swim that will take place in Port Elizabeth during the Splash Festival. There was a strong east wind blowing that caused chop but apart from that it was a great swim”, said Roux
Rebecca Newman swam her first ever 10 K swim, finishing ahead of veteran Jeffreys Bay swimmers Brenton Williams and Alfred te Water Naude, who came first and second respectively in their first marathon swims.
Chris Van Der Sande and Tammy Geyer won the 5 K swim respectively with Sanmari Woithe and Andre Kleynhans winning the masters categories.
Van Der Sande also won the 3 K swim while Jessica Roux continued to dominate the women’s 3 K event. JC van Wyk from Jeffreys Bay won the master’s category.
Dominic Greeff won the 1 K swim from Jamie-Lee Sclemmer in a tight tussle that was decided on the finish line. Jeffreys Bay swimmer Danie Ellis (11) won the under 14 division in the event from younger brother Pieter. Richden Jute and Denise Bosman were the first master’s swimmers home in their respective categories.
Tristan Zoetmulder recovers after completing the tiring bank to bank swim
Mike Zoetmulder from Zports who managed the event said he was very satisfied with the turn out for the EP Champs. “This is the first time we had had entries for the 10K, which indicates the growing commitment of marathon swimmers in the Eastern Cape. In total we had 16 entrants in the 5 K and 10 K swims, with 15 swimmers managing to finish their races”.
The full list of results can be found here
On the international front, South Africa’s leading open water swimmer Chad Ho continues to threaten the status quo when he was narrowly beaten into second place in the FINA 10 K Marathon Swimming World Cup held in Brazil. The finish was so close that officials had to rely on a photo finish to decide that Russian Evgeny Drattsev had just managed to touch ahead of Ho at the end.
(Evgeny Drattsev won the FINA 10 K World Cup in Brazil. Chad Ho of South Africa finished 2nd)
Open water swimmers in the Eastern Province have a week’s break before swimming resumes at Hobie Beach in Port Elizabeth when the Axxess DSL Ocean Racing Series takes to the water. Competitors have a choice between a 1 K and a 3 K swim.
