Champs defend Midmar Mile titles
Brad Morgan
13 February 2006
Almost 16 500 swimmers were in action at Midmar Dam over the weekend, in the largest open water swimming event in the world. For the defending champions in the prestigious 14-to-30-year age group, Troyden Prinsloo and Keri-Ann Payne, there was success, despite testing conditions.
It was choppy and windy with swimmers in event after event swimming an S-shaped race, pushed first one way and then the other by the wind. Event organiser Wayne Riddin reckoned the conditions were probably the worst yet in the 33-year history of the race.
Johannesburg-born Payne, who will be swimming for Great Britain at the Commonwealth Games, was challenged by Australia's Melissa Gorman, who like Payne will be in action at the Commonwealth Games, and by South Africa's Melissa Corfe, a late entry.
Took charge
Payne and Gorman went through the first 400 metres neck-and-neck, with Corfe in close attendance. At the 800-metre mark,
the Australian had edged ahead, but shortly after moving through the halfway mark Payne took charge, reaching the third of the hotspots first – each hotspot split was 400 metres apart – and racing on to claim the line honours.
Despite the tricky conditions, she managed to slice 22 seconds off her record time of 2005, finishing in 18 minutes and 21 seconds.
It was Payne's second win in succession, but her third win overall, to go with her previous victory in the under-13 category in 2001.
Gorman took second place ahead of Cassie Patten who, like Payne, swims for the Stockport Club in Manchester.
First South African
Corfe was the first of the South African swimmers, in fourth place. She declared herself happy with her swim, saying she had decided to enter only the night before the race in order to assess where she stood in her preparations for the Commonwealth Games.
In the men'’s race Troyden Prinsloo, who will be
contesting the 1 500 metres at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, took an impressive victory despite the attention of a number of top South Africans, Egyptians, and Australia's Kurtis McGillivary.
The Aussie was fastest out of the blocks, leading Prinsloo and Terence Parkin, who were tracking him. He was first through the 400-metre mark, and again he led at 800 metres, but Prinsloo made his move at halfway.
'More like a surf swim'
Pulling away, he went on to win in 17 minutes and 47 seconds, a nice improvement on his 18 minutes and 28 seconds winning time of 2005. The conditions were appalling, said Prinsloo, "more like a surf swim" than swimming in a dam.
McGillivary came through in second, with Chad Ho notching an impressive third place. Riaan Schoeman captured fourth spot, followed by Egypt's Mazen Aziz.
Parkin ended in the bottom half of the top 10, while tenth place went to Britain's James Goddard, the Commonwealth record
holder in the 200 metres backstroke, who thoroughly enjoyed the experience of contesting the Midmar Mile which, he admitted, was the longest race he had ever swum in.
Impressed
McGillivary was also very impressed by the event. He said he was happy with his second place finish at his first attempt, especially considering the quality of the winner. He promised to return to the Midmar Mile again and said he would bring more Aussies to join him.
Out of the water the conditions could hardly have been better. It was sunny, but with a cooling wind.
And everywhere one looked there was a festive atmosphere: Children yelling on the funfair attractions, people browsing through a wide variety of stalls in the flea market, others donating blood in the SA National Blood Service's funky Blood Bus, and then the general hustle and bustle of swimmers sharing their experiences.
| 
