Photos courtesy of Anthony Grote of
Gameplan Media.
December 19th is the early entry deadline for the 2015 aQuellé Midmar Mile to be held on February 7th and 8th. Thereafter, swimmers will have to pay a little more to take part in the world’s largest competitive open water swimming event.
For safety reasons, all entrants are required to submit qualifying times. This seeding of the 18,000+ competitors will ensure that everyone is placed in the correct heats that will in turn enable more effective monitoring of the swimmers.
Qualifying times may be recorded at open water swimming events or in swimming pools at schools or gyms over a distance of 1000 meters. All swimmers are encouraged to be honest about their qualifying times because the safety of competitors is the primary concern.
Newbies can enter the Midmar Mile without a qualifying time, but they are required to purchase a Safer Swimmer safety device for R100.
Event organiser Wayne Riddin said the N3 Toll Concession Chill Zone has been introduced to further enhance the safety measures at the Midmar Mile. Located at the finish, it will be responsible for assessing the condition of every swimmer removed from the water by the Water Safety Committee.
Participants can join 2-time defending women’s champion Ashley Twichell who has come out on top against world champion Keri-Anne Payne of Great Britain over the last 2 years. But now the Olympic silver medalist, born and raised in South Africa, is nearly back to form as she starts to prepare for her third Olympics. Like in the years where she rose to the top of the podium, Payne has cut back on her racing schedule and upped the ante with her training.
Especially now with Twichell coming off of a tough 2014 season where she had to recover from debilitating shoulder injuries, the pre-race favorite may be the 7-time winner Payne.
The 2015 aQuellé Midmar Mile takes place at the Midmar Dam, just outside of Howick in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands. For more information, visit www.midmarmile.co.za.
Photos show Ashley Twichell leading Keri-Anne Payne in 2014.
Copyright © 2014 by World Open Water Swimming Association