Pretoria swimmers dominate podium in Elite women’s race at Midmar mile
Local swimmers from Pretoria made the city proud with their achievements during Sunday's aQuellé Midmar Mile, the popular open water swimming competition held annually at the Midmar Dam just north of Pietermaritzburg.
Three Pretoria swimmers made a clean sweep on Sunday by taking all three podium places in the Elite women’s race during the aQuellé Midmar Mile, South Africa’s most prestigious open water swimming competition.
Callan Lötter from Tuks Swimming Club was crowned champion of the Elite women’s race after she mastered the rough conditions perfectly and made her move early.
Lötter’s teammate at Tuks Swimming Club, Stephanie Houtman, secured second spot in 20:02, while a third member of this club, Carli Antonopoulos, finished third in 20:07. The trio were over a minute clear of the next swimmers.
At the 400m mark Lötter was already well in front and continued to stretch the gap between her and the chasing pack. By halfway, the 19-year-old was 12 seconds in front and she had extended that lead to 19 seconds by the final marker at 1200m. She eventually reached the finish in 19 minutes 51 seconds with the battle for second and third heating up behind her.
The 2022 champion and Lötter’s teammate at Tuks Swimming Club, Stephanie Houtman, secured second spot in 20:02, while a third member of this club, Carli Antonopoulos, finished third in 20:07. The trio were over a minute clear of the next swimmers.
“My plan was only to start building from 400m onwards. It feels really good and it just shows that my training has been working. I’m really happy with how I performed today,” said Lötter afterwards.
Photo: Supplied
She also payed tribute to her coach, Troyden Prinsloo.
“Troy has helped me a lot. He gave me the confidence and made me enjoy the sport again,” she remarked.
The Elite men’s division was won by Matt Caldwell of Cardinal Aquatics in Kempton Park in a time of 18:32, while two other Pretoria residents from the Tuks Swimming Club, Henré Louw (18:42) and Connor Albertyn (18:44), shared the podium with him as second and third place finishers.
While the elite swimmers celebrated their victories, there were numerous other incredible feats of endurance achieved on Sunday.
Reino von Wielligh and Gary Albertyn, both from Pretoria, completed their gruelling mission of swimming 32 miles over the four days of the aQuellé Midmar Mile, while also securing impressive victories in their age groups. Von Wielligh won the 31-40 age group in 20:58 and Albertyn in the 51-60 age group in 21:18.
“It’s something I wanted to do because of my age. I am 32 and I swam 32 miles to raise R32,000 for charity. I think it was very symbolic,” said Von Wielligh.
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