Open water races kick off busy month
A BUSY month of open water swimming in the Eastern Cape starts tomorrow with the Nelson Mandela Bay Aquatics 10km and 3km championships taking place at Marina Martinique (1pm).
This is one of the last opportunities for swimmers from around the country to qualify for the South African Open Water Championships at the same venue next month.
“February is certainly the busiest swimming month in Nelson Mandela Bay,” water sports organiser Michael Zoetmulder said.
“This weekend, we come to the finale of the Swim Series for 2017-18 with the hosting of the Nelson Mandela Bay Aquatics Championships.
“This will be followed the next Sunday by the Ocean Racing Series, and the River Mile on February 18.”
This weekend’s Marina Martinique swims, which are open to all, will include tomorrow’s 10km and 3km championship swims.
On Sunday, starting at 9am, there will be a 5km swim, together with a usual Swim Series 3km, 1km and 550m swim races.
The repeat of the 3km swim is to afford swimmers the opportunity to attain or improve on their Swimming SA qualifying times. The weekend’s most popular event should prove to be the 5km swim, with former SA Schools swimming captain Ian Venter of Aquabear the favourite, alongside Amica de Jager of the Liquid Lines in Cape St Francis. They are defending champions.
De Jager will contest the 10km race tomorrow so this could give local swimmers such as Jessica Booth and Hannah Counihan an opportunity to snatch the 5km title from her.
Online registration is recommended as late entries at the weekend come with a R50 penalty.