EP Open Water Swim Champs this weekend

January 27, 2012

Jeffreys Bay will host the prestigious Eastern Province Open Water Swim Champs this weekend at Marina Martinique.

The event is the last opportunity for swimmers to qualify for the South African Open Water Swim Champs to be held in April at a venue still to be confirmed.

Local swimmers Caro de Jager, Seth de Swart, JC Van Wyk and Brenton Williams have all been selected in the provisional EP team for the national championships.

The format of the EP Champs will follow international standards with the 10 K marathon swim and the 3 K swim taking place on Saturday afternoon.

Marina Martinique is regarded as the best open water swim venue in the Eastern Cape and swimmers from all over South Africa are expected to attend the event.

Online entries can be made at www.ecswim.co.za

The full programme is:

Saturday 28th January 2012

Event 1 – 13h00 : 10km Mixed Swim
Event 2 – 15h00 : 3km Mixed Swim

Sunday 29th January 2012

Event 3 – 09h00 : 5km Mixed Swim
Event 4 – 10h30 : Kids 14u 500m swim
Event 5 – 10h50 : Kids 10u Bank to Bank
Event 6 – 11h00 : 1km Mixed Swim

Entry Fees

10km: R 100
5km, 3km, 1km Swims : R60.00

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Records tumble at Steers Marina Mile

January 17, 2012

Just short of 200 swimmers took on the canals of Marina Martinique in the 2011 Steers Marina Mile in conditions that varied from great to really choppy .

Jessica Roux successfully defended her Steers Marina Mile crown . Photo: RRAD

Jessica Roux, the Springbok open water swimmer continued to dominate the Steers Women’s Mile and successfully defended her title once again.

Up and coming Jeffreys Bay swimmer Caro de Jager took third place and showed talent that could one day see her becoming the first local to win the Steers Mile.

Earlier in the day Roux won the Double Mile as well. “I love racing at Marina Martinique and am happy that I managed to defend my titles” said Roux, who is now training in Durban.

South African 25 K Champion Tyron Venter also did the double and won both the Steers Mile as well as the Double Mile.

Tyron Venter won the 10 K, 5 K, double mile and Steers Marina Mile

“The Steers Marina Mile is one of the big swims on the South African calendar and I am proud to have won my first title ”, said Venter.

Venter went on to win both the Steers 10 K and the 5 K swims the following day, to make it 4 out of 4, the first time this has ever been accomplished at the Jeffreys Bay open water swim festival.

Tyron is a great example to the younger open water swimmers in South Africa. “He is a tough competitor who comes to an event and swims hard in as many events as he can”, said event organiser, Brenton Williams.

Williams went on to set some records himself over the two day event by swimming the Steers Mile only using the butterfly stroke, regarded as the most demanding of the swim strokes.

Brenton Williams completed a 10 K swim just using the butterfly stroke.


The veteran Jeffreys Bay swimmer, who is also a DA Councillor on the Kouga Council, went one further the next day by swimming the 10 K butterfly.

This is the first time that a 10 K open water swim, sanctioned by Swim SA, has been completed by only using the butterfly stroke, in South Africa.

Williams used about 5500 butterfly strokes to complete the marathon swim and is doing the swims to raise funds and awareness for the National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI).

Another local swimmer Seth de Swart had a great mile to finish in 5th position despite only being 12 yrs old and having to swim against older competitors.

Sponsor of the event, Breyten de Beer from Steers Jeffreys Bay said that the 2011 Mile was a great success and that he was looking forward to the 2012 Steers Mile.

“We will be looking at ways of making the Steers Mile even bigger and better than what is already is”, said De Beer. The Steers Mile is already a drawcard that brings swimmers to Jeffreys Bay and we want to make sure the event remains one of the top Mile events in South Africa.

Full results can be found at www.marina-mile.co.za

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Enter online for Marina Mile

December 27, 2011

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Plenty of action at the Steers Marina Mile

December 15, 2011

The Original Jeffreys Bay Ugg Boot - by Instep Leather

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Bell Buoy swim is an extreme event

December 14, 2011

Open Water swimmers from around South Africa and internationally will welcome the move by event organizers to have separate categoties for wetsuit and non wetsuit swimmers.

The purists in the fledgling sport adhere to English Channel rules when swimming, which means that only a swimming costume (speedo), goggle and a cap maybe be worn.

Wetsuits are regarded as being an unfair advantage as they prevent a swimmer from feeling the cold and add to buoyancy which means a swimmer wearing a wetsuit will be able to swim faster as well as for longer in cold water.

Steve Munatones, a former world open water swim champion has succinctly described how open water swimmers feel about what they do.

“As swimmers prepare themselves on the shoreline to face the rigors of open water swimming, they truly stand exposed to the elements.

Confident in their own skin, they do not need much equipment or many tools.

At its very core, open water swimming is a primordial contest in which athletes are stripped nearly bare and asked to test themselves against Mother Nature”

The 2010 Bell Buoy was swum without wetsuits in 15 degree water and cold conditions.

Another positive move by the organisers, Zports is that a 5 K qualifying swim is mandatory for all swimmers who have not yet completed a prior Bell Buoy swim.

This will make the event much safer for the participants who will have to swim 2.5 K out to sea, braving open ocean swell, wind and currents to round the Bell Buoy reef. Water safety will also have the assurance that swimmers out there have the capabilities to have a good shot at finishing the swim.

The following swims have been graded as qualifying swims and include the 5 K which forms part of the swims at the 2011 Steers Marina Mile.

* Marina Martinique (www.marina-mile.co.za) – Saturday 31st December.

* EPA Open Water Swimming Championships (www.ecswim.co.za) – Saturday 28th / Sunday 29th January 2012

* Cirrus Bio-Ears Swim Challenge Series (www.ecswim.co.za) – Saturday 3rd / Sunday 4th March 2012

* 3-Beaches Swim Challenge – Wednesday 21st March 2012

* Cirrus Bio-Ears Swim Challenge Series (www.ecswim.co.za) – Saturday 31st March / Sunday 1st April 2012

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Crises with roads in Eastern Cape

December 9, 2011

The Eastern Cape Department of Roads has not budgeted for emergency road repairs caused by flooding.

This could make it increasingly difficult for the Kouga Municipality to access the R 87 million in flood damage funding authorised by the Council.

The border between the Eastern Cape and the Western Cape tells a story.

Our roads have taken a hammering in Jeffreys Bay, with patchwork fixing of potholes commonplace and without the help of the local community the roads would have been in a parlous state.

The Marina Martinique Homeowners Association stepped into the breach and did emergency fixing of potholes in the CDB and community organizations fixed roads in St Francis Bay as well..

However, the state of the roads in the Kouga is mirrored elsewhere in the Eastern Cape.

Recently the Democratic Alliance (DA) highlighted the state of the roads leading from Sundays River Valley to the harbours.

These roads are used by trucks carrying citrus for export: a revenue worth R1,5 billion to the province annually.

Due to the deterioration of these roads it is estimated that only 260 000 tons or 60% of the yield of citrus will be exported this year.

As the citrus season is only six months long such a loss has dire financial consequences for the citrus and related industries.

This will have an immediate knock-on effect on further job losses, something this province can ill afford.

Other industries such as the tourism and dairy industries have been left stranded because clients and deliveries could not take place due to damaged roads.

The DA in the Eastern Cape has suggested the following quick wins that must be implemented to improve the dire situation in the Kouga and elsewhere:

• There needs to be sufficient budget for damage caused by floods and other weather perils.

• The MEC, Thandiswa Marawu, needs to be more pro-active in sourcing emergency funding from parliament.

• The money spinner and job creator roads like the Sundays River Valley and elsewhere must be maintained on a sustained basis so that these industries do not collapse.

• The use of competent contractors and legal staff to ensure maintenance clauses are inserted into construction projects to prevent long term maintenance costs that would be incurred as is now happening.

• Finally there needs to be a shift of transport of freight from road to rail.

If this can be achieved quickly, the life span of our roads and road maintenance costs will decrease substantially leaving budgeted money for other developmental priorities.

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New events for open water swimmers

December 8, 2011

The first FINA World Junior Open Water Swimming Championships will be held in Canada in 2012.

The August event will be held in the Welland Recreational Canal in Ontario.

Swimming Canada’s CEO Pierre Lafontaine described the Welland Canal as perfect for open water racing, “The water conditions are stable and the spectators are able to follow the race at arms length of the field of play.

It will make for a great festival of swimming.”

The ages of the participants is determined by their age as of December 31st 2012. The events will be divided into the following age groups:

• 14-16 years Boys and Girls
• 17-18 years Boys and Girls


The individual events will include the following:

• 14-16 years 5 K Boys and Girls
• 17-18 years 7.5 K Boys and Girls

The mixed-gender 3 K team event will comprise of 3 swimmers (either 2 boys and 1 girl or 2 girls and 1 boy) in two age categories:
• 14-16 years
• 17-18 years

Source: Daily news of open water swimming

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Steers Marina Mile on 30/31 December

November 28, 2011

The Jeffreys Bay Steers has committed to being a long term sponsor for the annual Marina Mile which has become one of the biggest open water swim events in South Africa.

The Mile was resurrected in 2002 when Yvonne Lentinello and Brenton Williams held the event which was won by Port Elizabeth swimmer David Glover.

Eastern Cape swimmers have dominated the Mile ever since with Matthew van Der Burg, Philip Kuhn, Byron Lockett, David Marais, Michael Marais and Chris Van Der Sande all having won the event over the past nine years.

Two women have dominated the Steers Marina Mile, with Springbok swimmers Velia Janse Van Rensburg and of late Jessica Roux both being multiple winners at Marina Martinique.

Jessica Roux will defend her Steers Marina Mile crown in December. Photo: RRAD

Last year the Steers Marina Mile evolved into a two day event with an extreme 25 Km swim being added to the programme. The inaugural 25 K was won by Rebecca Newman from Port Elizabeth and Brenton Williams, the veteran Jeffreys Bay swimmer.

Tyron Venter, the 25 K South African champion will have another crack at the extreme swim this year after having to pull out of last year’s event at the 10 km mark due to a shoulder injury.

Once again Steers will sponsor the collector item Marina Mile T-shirts for the first 100 entrants.

“The Steers Marina Mile has become a well known swim around South Africa and we are proud be to the official sponsor of the event”, said Breyten de Beer from Steers Jeffreys Bay.

“The swim has generated huge exposure for Jeffreys Bay and Marina Martinique was chosen to host the South African Open Water Swim Champs in April as a result.

Rebecca Newman the Eastern Province 25 K champ sights.

There are now international open water swimmers who are using Jeffreys Bay as a training base for the Olympics next year and we are sure that the sport of open water swimming will flourish in our town and bring more positive exposure for Jeffreys Bay”, added de Beer.

Marina Martinique is a perfect open water swim venue due to the protected canals and pollution free salt water canals. See you there in December!

The Original Jeffreys Bay Ugg Boot - by Instep Leather

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Ocean swim cancelled today

November 20, 2011

Due to the extreme onshore winds of the past few days, the sea swims at Hobie Beach in Port Elizabeth have been cancelled for today.

Swims have been cancelled at Ocean Racing today due to strong on shore winds.

The running events will still take place and swimmers are welcome to join in and take a jog along the beachfront and enjoy the sunshine.

The Easterly and North Easterly winds have created highly unfavourable swim conditions and although the ocean swimmers will always be disappointed when a swim is cancelled, the Ocean Racing Series organisers have made the right call in the circumstances.

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Olympic swimmers dominate at Marina Martinique

November 18, 2011

World class swimming action took place in Jeffreys Bay on Sunday and the couple of hundred spectators who braved the winter like conditions witnessed some of the best marathon swimming ever seen in South Africa.

Martina Grimaldi, the Olympic swimmer from Italy got right down to business in the 10 Km event and stamped her authority down from the start, showing why she is rated as one of the top contenders for Olympic honours at London 2012.

Martina Grimaldi on her way to winning the 10 K at Marina Martinique.

Martina, swimming with a slight shoulder injury, swam a consistent pace throughout and won the 10 Km in a time of 1 hour 56 minutes with the Steers Marina Mile queen, Jessica Roux coming second in 2 hours 3 minutes.

Fabio Cuzzani, the Italian Olympic open water coach said he was happy with Grimaldi’s performance. “Martina swum consistently and the perfect conditions at Marina Martinique meant that a good time was always on the cards”.

Natalie du Toit, who was suffering from a cold, decided to swim the 5 Km event and won in a time of 1 hour 1 minutes, with up and coming Port Elizabeth swimmer Wayne Jones coming second.

Natalie du Toit always has time for her young fans. Roland Van Wyk & Claudia Zoetmulder get autographs.

“I love racing at Marina Martinique and having the spectators on the bank so close to the swimmers adds to the occasion”, said Natalie.

Local swimmer JC van Wyk won the 5 Km in his age group and then went on to win the 1 Km overall. Ralph West won his age group in the 5 K and did the double by winning his age group again in the 1 K.

Gitta Seyfert won her age group in the 1 K event as well. Caro de Jager and Seth de Swart both won silver in the 3 K event.

Local swim coach Brenton Williams became the first man ever to finish the 1 K event swimming only butterfly. Last weekend in Johannesburg he became the first swimmer to complete the Lions mile also swimming only butterfly.

Brenton Williams completed the 1 K swim by just using the butterfly stroke.

“The sport of open water swimming has only really begun in South Africa and there are no boundaries”, said Brenton. “It is really about achieving what was previously thought impossible and we have South Africans who have become the first to swim around the tip of South America, there is Lewis Pugh who has swum in -1.7 degree water at the North Pole and we have Natalie du Toit who became the first disabled swimmer to compete in the Olympic Games”.

Gitta Seyfert, Ralph West, JC Van Wyk with Natalie du Toit at prize giving.

The next event at Marina Martinique will be the ever popular Steers Marina Mile and the event has now grown into a two day event with the Steers Mile and double Mile taking place on 30 December.

The gruelling 25 K swim will take place on the 31 December with a 15 K event being added for the first time ever in South Africa, together with a 10 K event.

More pictures of the swim can be found at www.jbaysurfcam.com

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