Riverview Rebels take on the Midmar Mile
Three Riverview Prep swimmers lived up to the school's unofficial mantra of "grit", when they completed the aQuellé Midmar Mile in KwaZulu-Natal last weekend.
Pupils, Ruby and Lucy James and teacher Megan Swart competed in the aQuellé Midmar Mile as the Riverview Rebels on Saturday, February 10.
Over 1 600 people dived in the Midmar Dam near Howick for the world’s largest open-water swim and aimed to complete the 1,6-km route. The event was recognised by the Guinness Book of World Records in 2009, when 13 755 people finished the race.
Competitors ranged from local recreational swimmers to serious international athletes.
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The trio are members of the Nelspruit Swimming Academy and train weekly with André Cloete at Laerskool Malelane.
Swart swam the Midmar before and was keen on doing it again.
Ruby and Lucy competed in the Sabrina Love Ocean Foundation Challenge in Plettenberg Bay in December and felt it would be a great experience to take on the Midmar Mile. They all competed in the Low Med Open Water Series’ 1,5km swim at the Longmere Dam in White River during the first weekend in February in preparation.
Swart said the weather during the Midmar Mile was perfect compared to previous years’ windy, rainy and overcast conditions.
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She explained that it is challenging to swim at a continuous pace in the beginning of the race, as people often swim into you. It becomes easier when you break away from the crowd, Lucy added.
“The water was quite choppy due to the masses of people, especially the last 400 metres where everyone starts swimming closer to one another for the finish of the race,” she said.
Swart finished 435th overall in a time of 36:51, Ruby was 952nd with a time of 44:28 and Lucy was 1334th in a time of 52:42.
The trio said they would definitely want to do it again next year. “Our goal is to get more swimmers involved next year and swim for a charity within our community and raise money for them,” Swart concluded.
