Category Archives: Race Reports

Western Province Open Water Swimming Series #2

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Back at Ashanti, this time for the Western Province Open Water Swimming Series event 2. The schedule included my first 10km of the season followed by a 3km. With a 4 week break between WP Open Water 1 and WP Open Water 2 there was a lot of time to work on racing form and strategy. However, having had a bout of flu and an erratic training schedule for the two weeks after the last event, I was a bit anxious to see how things would go. The week leading up this event had been relatively consistent and was the first week of solid training I had managed to complete in quite a while.

The weather on Saturday was appalling, we arrived at Ashanti with the wind howling and rain pouring. The weather leading up to this event had been very warm which had left the water temperature in the mid twenties. Even though the rain was falling, it was very comfortable in the water. I had a good warm-up before race briefing and discussed my feeding strategy with my coach, Brendon.

Start

10km and 5km swim start

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Winelands Mile 2012

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This past weekend I was back at Ashanti Wine Farm, this time for the Winelands Mile 2012. I have done this race a few times over the years and was going back this year as the defending champion. After having spent the week ill and not having swum once since the Bridge House Mile the previous weekend, I left the decision to swim until the last minute.

I woke up on Saturday feeling much better after finishing the course of anti-biotics on Friday. I was still feeling a bit week but it was a stunning day in Cape Town, so decided to head out to Paarl and use the event as a training swim.

Ashanti Dam

Ashanti Dam

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Bridge House Mile 2012

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On Sunday, 4 November 2012, we headed out to Franschhoek for the inaugural Bridge House Mile Open Water Swim. The swim was held on the beautiful and picturesque Berg River Dam situated on the outskirts of Franschhoek. This was the first time the Berg River Dam has been used for an open water swim.

There was an early morning chill in the air, low-lying cloud cover and 17 degree C water. There were a few preliminary swimming races leading up to the One Mile main event at 09h30. These included a 200m and 400m swim for all ages. The One Mile race was seperated into a Wetsuit Category and a Non-Wetsuit main event.

Wetsuit Swim Underway

Wetsuit Swim Underway

The wetsuit Swim got the One Mile proceedings underway. A few big names opted to race in the neoprene category. Kate Roberts, just back from the London Olympics for Triathlon, as well as Achmat Hassiem, also just back from London and the Paralympics. The two of them lead from start to finish, with Kate taking the overall honours in the Wetsuit race in a time of 18minutes and 39 Seconds.

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WP Open Water Swimming Series 1

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The start of the Open Water swimming season is the first Western Province (WP) Open Water Swimming Series event. Most events are held at Ashanti Wine Farm in Paarl. This years series will see two events at Ashanti Wine Farm, one in Worcester and one at Theewaterskloof. The events take place once a month from November to February every year, with the January event incorporating Western Province Open Water Swimming Championships.

The first event of the day was the 5km swim. This event was set to start at 08h00 but due to low lying cloud cover, the organisers struggled to get exact GPS coordinates whilst measuring the course. The conditions were chilly with very little wind to speak of. The water temperature was sitting at around 17DegC.

I headed into the water wearing my Arena Powerskin Revo Jammer ready to set off on our five lap course, one kilometer per loop. Danie Marais and Rudolf Visser set a very fast pace from the gun, I was feeling slightly out of sorts and settled into my own comfortable rhythm holding onto a distant third place.
5km

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