Gauteng qualifier up next in Midmar Mile build-up

It hosts the Time Freight Lake Heritage Water Festival on 17 and 18 January. 

The 1 200 metres swim, for those aiming to post a Midmar Mile qualifying time, takes place on Sunday, incorporating the Northern Tigers Swimming and Central Gauteng Open Water Championships.

Midmar Mile organiser Wayne Riddin is expecting a big field for the Heia Safari Ranch event.

"We normally have close to 2 000 people at that event, " he said. 

Riddin says that taking on the 1 200 metres about a month before the world's largest open water swimming event, comes with some advantages for the participants.

"The biggest advantage is to check that you can do a mile, or get as close to it [in distance] as possible, with it being four weeks out from the Midmar Mile. It also helps people understand whether or not they need to pick up their training so that they can have a decent Midmar Mile. 

"Besides that, it's about gaining experience with swimmers starting in the batches like we do at the Midmar Mile. 

"This weekend, more than likely, we will be introducing a seeding system, like we have at the Midmar Mile, because of the numbers of swimmers and the space that we have available for the start.

For those people who have not yet posted a qualifying time, a number of options are still open. 

"Virgin Active is one of our sponsors, so we are encouraging people who don't have a qualifying time to go to a Virgin Active and swim a thousand metres and have their time taken, and have Virgin Active stamp it," Riddin explained. 

For those who are unable to post a time before the big event in February, the option of taking part in the Midmar Mile remains open, Riddin said. 

"If there are people out there, like novices, who don't know who to go to, you can come to the Midmar Mile and still enter at the start. We are going to have Safe Swimmer devices available for those people to either rent or buy, and do the event with that," he revealed.

Riddin, one of South Africa's leading swimming coaches and a former winner of the Midmar Mile, offered some advice for those preparing to take on the 1 600 metres swim.

"The important thing is to get an idea of how fast one can swim per 400 metres," he opined.

"Because the event is divided into four sectors of 400 metres, so you can monitor your progress through the race. So get some 400 metres swims done, because they are going to do that four times at the event. 

Riddin warned that for safety reasons newly introduced cut-off times would be strictly adhered to.

The 2015 aQuellé Midmar Mile takes place at the Midmar Dam, just outside of Howick in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands, on 7 and 8 February.

You can find more information at www.midmarmile.co.za 

(Photo: Gameplan Media)