Local Pretoria swimmers make statement in first Midmar Mile seeding swim
A popular new venue in Gauteng, which is highly regarded among open water swimmers, was recently the place where the first seeding swim for next year's Midmar Mile took place.
The first seeding swim for next year’s aQuellé Midmar Mile took place at a pristine new venue – Prime View Adventure & Leisure – in Midrand recently.
Pretoria swimmers Henré Louw and Callan Lotter made a statement of their intentions for the 50th anniversary of the event at Midmar Dam from 9-12 February next year, powering to commanding victories in their respective categories.
Swimming as a combined men’s and women’s 1.2km race Louw led the pack from early on and finished in a time of 13 minutes 45, a full 45 seconds clear of second-placed Rossouw Venter, who was just three seconds ahead of Reino von Wielligh.
“This shorter swim was fun. Getting back into the cold water was a bit of a challenge and the wind picked up a little bit from this morning, but it was definitely a good swim,” said Louw, who has come back from injury and also won the three-kilometre race earlier in the day.
According to Louw, his plan was to go out very quick and set the pace for himself and take it from there and see how he felt after the first 200m.
“This is definitely good preparation for Midmar next year. I’m looking forward to the 50th anniversary and racing hard and giving it my all,” the 20-year-old added.
16-year-old Lotter finished fifth overall in the mixed field and was the first woman home in a time of 14:57 with Carli Antonopoulos 40 seconds back in second in 15:37 and 14-year-old Karla Myburgh third in 15:53.
Lotter said she was expecting to come out on top and is looking forward to swimming her first ever aQuellé Midmar Mile next year.
“I’m hoping for a win there. I was supposed to do it this year but then it was too close to Nationals. So, I decided to plan everything else so that I can go and swim Midmar next year,” said Lotter, who also finished second in the three-kilometre event on Sunday.
Fellow Pretoria swimmer Reino von Wielligh completed every competitive event on offer over the weekend, from 1.2km up to 7.5km – finishing top three in all of them. The 29-year-old is preparing to take on a remarkable sixth straight 16-Mile Charity Challenge to raise money for Happy Bundles in 2023.
Speaking about Prime View Adventure & Leisure as a new venue, Von Wielligh added that he believes it’s one of the cleanest dams or lakes that he has swum in in Gauteng.
“I’m looking forward to more events being presented here. It’s open for the public so hopefully in the future we can do some training here as well because it’s clean and already set up,” he concluded.
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