The aQuellé Midmar Mile starts are something to see. Competitors are separated by age and gender and start in huge waves.

The swimmers have qualification times that are compiled at official seeding events. Based on this pre-seeding and organization, the start has a military precision that is a credit to the hundreds of volunteers and organization staff. Each heat has different colors including gold which signifies the 8-mile Club – the swimmers who chose to do all eight 1-mile heats.

With dozens of lifeguards in the water at the start – where many newscomers have problems – and hundreds of lifeguards lined up in 50-meter increments along both sides of the relatively narrow course, the swimmers have a fairly straight course across the dam. The swimmers even swim over 8 military divers who spend their time under the water during the race.

The event has three different hot spots – at the 400-meter, 800-meter and 1200-meter distances where the fastest swimmers can win prize money. A start – and a finish – to see.

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