South African Olympian Jessica Roux successfully defended her title for the third consecutive year at the 2012 Swimming Plus Marina Mile held at Marina Martinique.

“I love racing in the Marina and felt strong throughout the Mile. The Marina is where [open water swimming] all started for me. I will be racing a lot more here over the next couple of months,” said Roux who led second-place Caro de Jager from Jeffreys Bay and third-place Jamie-Lee Schlemmer from start to finish.

Tanja Lategan won the 31-40 year old age group while veteran Port Elizabeth swimmer Melanie Gertenbach won the 41-50 division followed by Jeffreys Bay swimmers Anne de Swart and Cheryl Gibson-Dicks.

On the men’s side, in contrast, there was new blood tasting victory for the first time.

Newcomer Chris Reid from Port Elizabeth (shown above) swam an intelligent race to win the Marina Mile title. Reid took the lead at the 500m mark and kept a steady pace to win comfortably over Andrew Fischer and Daniel Jones.

Caro de Jager proved her stamina by winning the Steers Double Mile later in the day as well as the 5 km swim the following day in the canals of Marina Martinique. 12-year-old Johan Schonken proved to be a boy among men as he won the men’s 5 km.

Veteran Tyron Venter joined Caro on the top of the podium in the Steers Double Mile with Daniel Jones in second. Venter then set off on a blistering pace in the marathon swim of 25 km, and never looked back taking the R2000 (US$236) first prize. “We have seen how the Marina Mile has grown from a single race to a two-day open water festival. It is great for Jeffreys Bay. The 25K is an extreme event and Core Surf Gear are stoked to be involved and to help grow the swim,” said Koffie Jacobs.

Venter was happy with his performance, “I really appreciate Core Surf supporting the swim [so] I decided to put my heart into it and see what happened. I felt good and am very happy with my time. I will be back to defend my title for sure.”

Copyright © 2012 by Open Water Source