Benoni Midmar champ turns 97
Cochran started swimming the Midmar at the age of 70 and has since completed 17 consecutive miles
Lorna Cochran, Midmar Mile record breaker and former Benoni resident, turned 97 on July 31.
Cochran completed the globally renowned open-water swim event at Midmar Dam, in Howick, KwaZulu-Natal, in February 2014 and 2015, breaking the record of oldest ever finisher of the event both years.
She was also the Sports Star of the Week in the City Times for the Midmar Mile.
Cochran started swimming the Midmar at the age of 70 and has since completed 17 consecutive miles. Still to this day holds the record as the oldest person to have swum and completed the Midmar Mile.
Cochran was born in 1923. She swam her first Midmar Mile in 1997, at the age of 74.
Her last Midmar Mile was completed in 2015, at the age of 91.
With Covid coming into affect, Cochran has been living with her son Neil and his wife Patricia, who stay in Parkdene, Boksburg
“Unfortunately with lockdown, my mom has not been able to go anywhere and also visitors have been limited. At 97 the last thing she would need is for her to get Covid.” explained daughter Janet Friskin.
“She was away visiting my brother in Durban at the start of the Covid pandemic, so he sent her back to Boksburg. My brother in Boksburg collected her from the airport and then the lockdown kicked into place and she was stuck.
“Normally she lives in the Old Peoples home in Benoni, but they went into total lockdown and we as a family were not keen to put her into that environment under the circumstances,” said Friskin.
Lorna has seven children (of which six are married), 23 grandchildren and 32 great grandchildren.
“For her birthday she had visits from some of her children, but one by one and late in the afternoon we popped in to see her with a cake and gifts,” said Friskin.
“She has the normal old age issues of loss of hearing, and has had some serious problems with crumbling of her spine (two operations to gluethat back together), but otherwise is doing very well. Her eyesight is good and she loves to read and do crosswords puzzles.”
At the age of 97 she is now just spending time with her family and friends and looking forward to her 100th birthday.
A very happy belated birthday to Lorna Cochran from the City Times.
