Well-known Pretoria family and two Affies boys excel at word famous Midmar Mile
Pretoria's swimming Albertyn family made history at the recent Midmar Mile open water swimming event, while two boys from Afrikaans Hoër Seunskool also performed excellently.
The world’s largest open water swimming event, the Midmar Mile, was recently presented for the 47th time in the Midmar Dam just outside Pietermaritzburg.
This event attracted over 13,000 entries who braved the morning rain to tackle the mile-long course across the famous dam.
During the Family Relay, the well-known Albertyn family from Pretoria once again dominated the race, scooping up an impressive fourth title.
Son, Connor, was the first swimmer out the water in the race in 18:56. His sister, Kaitlyn, was ninth in 20:42 with father Gary alongside her in 10th with a time of 20:43. Mom, Megan, was not far behind in 22nd in 23:02.
“It was a tough start – very choppy – but it was a good race. It’s always good to race the family event and the pressure mounts, but luckily it’s more on Gary and Caitlyn and Connor than it is on me,” said Megan afterwards, confirming that the family all plan to tackle the 16-mile challenge next year.
She stressed that their family just love challenges and according to her all four family members will be doing the 16 miles next year.
“This would be an incredible challenge and one that I don’t think too many people can do. I think as a family it’s such a bonding weekend. We have so much fun, sharing that experience. I think I need to train harder. I’m the one that trains the least but come 2021, we’ll hopefully have four Albertyns doing 16 miles,” she remarked.
The men’s race saw Michael McGlynn well out in front from the start as he relished the challenge of the rough conditions. Having finished second in last year’s race, the Durban swimmer was determined he’d finish in front this time, reaching the shore in 18 minutes 26.
Seven-time champion Chad Ho was second in 19:02 and Henré Louw finished in third spot five seconds later.
Louw, a pupil of Afrikaans Hoër Seunskool in Pretoria, was also the first u.18 swimmer out of the water.
Another Affies boy, Richardt Beineke, took sixth place in the ‘non-company’ section for men between 14 and 31 years old. His time was 20 minutes and 13 seconds.
Robyn Kinghorn from Durban won the women’s title.
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