Cape Town – In a memorable day for 76-year-old Mike Pengelly – who has swum every edition of the world’s now-largest open-water swimming event – he crossed the finish line of the aQuellé Midmar Mile for the 50th time on Saturday.
This while World 10km champion Sharon van Rouwendaal lived up to her billing as the pre-race favourite while Connor Buck claimed a second straight men’s title at the aQuellé Midmar Mile on Sunday.
The Midmar Mile is held at the Midmar Dam north of Pietermaritzburg annually.
“It was quite nice actually,” said Pengelly, who swam in a group of friends who also competed in the first event 50 years ago.
“I had a lot of help from my Pinetown Otters water polo friends. I generally pull to the left, so I had one friend on the left and one on the right, so I actually swam very straight today for a change. I normally zigzag all over the place so it was really nice, special.
“It’s unbelievable to all be together… this has become such an amazing event over the last 50 years.”
The Netherlands’ Van Rouwendaal, who was visiting South Africa for the first time to take part in the world’s largest open-water swimming event dominated the women’s race from the start.
“Then I think around halfway I turned on my back and I saw there was only one person [close by] and I saw it was Ashley so I knew I had to be careful… when I saw the finish, I thought I’d build it up a little bit to get the win,” Van Rouwendaal said.
Buck, from Durban, managed to win the race in17:39 - 38 seconds off the men’s record.
“Coming into the race, I wasn’t really sure what to expect. You never know what’s happening with the currents and conditions on the day. I was just aiming to swim as fast as I possibly could and hope for the best, so it feels good,” said Buck.
Also at the finish and swimming a ceremonial final few metres of the race was the 90-year-old founder of the event, Mike “Buthie” Arbuthnot.
Part of the celebrations on Saturday was Trevor Strydom who was the winner of the first Midmar Mile in 1974. Strydom, who flew in for the event from his home in Australia, finished in a time of 33 minutes 15 seconds.
Meanwhile, David Williams (28:39) and Paula van Zyl (29:39) claimed victory in the physically disabled event while Aaron Putz (25:44) and Cornelia Fowler (33:12) took the intellectually impaired titles.
Hendrik Nortje (59:44) won the men’s visually impaired title while 2000 Olympic silver medallist Terence Parkin (28:04) and Maritza Snyders (33:43) won in the deaf category.
Thousands more swimmers made their way across the dam on the first day of the main events on Saturday.
Among them was Similo Dlamini, who was swimming her fourth aQuellé Midmar Mile, and who also represents South Africa in adaptive surfing.
“It was a great day, the weather was fantastic, and the dam was nice and behaved itself so it was good,” said Dlamini.
“In December we competed in the World Para-Surfing Championships, so a whole bunch of us are here as well to complete the race… obviously anything aquatic – that’s where you’ll find us.”
Swimming action continues today with the main elite events and the age category races.
Cape Times