International stars prepare for Midmar Mile at event near Centurion
Several international participants who want to take on the iconic Midmar Mile open water swimming competition this year were in action this past weekend at some of this iconic race's seeding events at the Prime View Adventure & Leisure venue near Midstream in Centurion.
With the well-known Midmar Mile open water swimming event just weeks away, the Pretoria swimming community’s hopes for success in this year’s race will rely heavily on Tuks student and national swimmer, Megan Shepherd.
After finishing second to Loghan Gray in a three-kilometre event at the Prime View Adventure & Leisure venue near Midstream in Centurion this past weekend, the Pretoria swimmer later took first place in the women’s 1.2km event in a time of 16:17 minutes.
14-year-old Zuria Venter ended second in 16:22m, and Leah Markgraaff and Cassidy Sinclair sharing third place after both finishing in 16:23m.
Shepherd said afterwards she has set her sights on another top-10 finish at the Midmar Mile next month.
“I would hope for a top-10 finish so that is where my goal lies. There has been a lot of training, we are getting ready, we are doing the recovery and we are putting the effort in,” she said, having claimed fourth place at last year’s race.
Meanwhile, race director Wayne Riddin was thrilled with the turnout and high level of competition at the seeding event at the Prime View Adventure & Leisure venue this past weekend, particularly with the participation of top international swimmers currently training in South Africa.
Among these swimmers were Paris Olympic silver medallists Oliver Klemet (Germany) and Moesha Johnson (Australia), who won the respective men’s and women’s 5km events on Saturday.
Riddin also confirmed that the number of entries for next month’s Midmar Mile is well up on this time last year.
“We are hoping it continues like that. I think we will definitely go over 10,000 pre-entries by the end of next week so if we hit the 12,000 mark like we did before Covid, we will be over the moon,” he remarked.
Those planning to swim in the 52nd edition of the Midmar Mile can still enter via the event website with pre-entries set to close on Saturday, 25 January. More information available at www.midmarmile.com .
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