Races – South Africa

Out of pure jealousy of everyone else racing on the weekend (Karkloof, Ironman, BMX World Champs etc), I went out and found a race that I could smash without compromising my slowly recovering knee: The Dolphin Mile Surf Series.

This event was brilliant! While my dad had left at stupid o’clock to head to Karkloof, I slowly climbed out of bed at 5.30, enjoyed a cup of coffee and bit of toast, put on my Jeep shorts, picked up my cap and goggle and casually made my way down to Marine Lifesaving Club next to Ushaka Marine World. The swim started at 7.30 in the extremely warm Durban waters and unlike other races when you hang around for hours after, prize giving was done by 9am and I was home again by 9.20 to enjoy the rest of my Sunday! Pretty awesome concept that giving no one any excuses to miss out on this 9 race series!

On the racing side, Myself and the 130 other competitors started on the harbour side of uShaka Pier and headed straight out a few hundred metres to the first buoy where we turned left. I’d had a pretty decent start and found myself in the chasing pack with one really strong swimmer out ahead of us.,We then headed North up the coast on the longest leg of the route. The games that were going on were awesome. I’d never really raced a swim on its own before besides school gala’s and Midmar Mile’s amongst the masses. Our group was surging and crossing each other to rid each other off our feet, changing lines and all on purpose I realised as I caught a few hairy eyeballs from fellow competitors. GAME ON I thought! It took a couple major sprint efforts here and there but I managed to stay in contact with the chasing group which was now just 3 of us as we rounded the 2nd buoy in front of Addington hospital. It was at this point however that one of the guys decided “it was now or never” and sprint flat out as we headed back south towards our final turn. I hoped he’d cooked myself and sprinted as hard as I could for about 300m but realised he’d opened up too much of a gap and I wasn’t going to be catching him by the line. I then flipped onto my back and checked out who was behind me and realised that I was comfortable in my spot and just kept it steady. Round the last buoy we headed straight back onto the beach, ran up the bank and over the line which to my surprise was 3rd place (Having not known exactly how many people were up ahead of our group while swimming).

Looking at the results now which are on the Dolphin Mile website, my time was 22min 52sec which is 20sec faster than my PB Midmar Mile..not bad considering we had waves, currents and swells to contend with, and I was 1min 35sec behind the winner, Chris McGlynn, who was well out ahead.

The full results are available here: Dolphin Mile Results 10 April 2011

Check out the website for all the event dates if you keen to join in the fun. I’ll definitely be at the next event: 24 April, but until then, see you guys at the DPHS Mudman this weekend!

RR

PS: Here’s an excerpt from their news page about this past weekends race:

The Dolphin Mile Surf Swim Series enjoyed an auspicious start to its 2011 programme of 9 scheduled events.

 

Sunday dawned in a clear sky to reveal pleasant weather conditions, usually associated with the Durban beachfront at this time of year. A light offshore breeze had settled the sea by the time that the one hundred and thirty participants, fifty-six of them first-time entrants, gathered at the 7h30 start of Event One of the 2011 Dolphin Mile Surf Swim Series, one hundred metres south of the uShaka Peir.  The course start and finish positions may be adjusted on the day of certain of the Dolphin Mile events, according to prevailing surf conditions and in the best interests of the participating swimmers’ safety.

 

A short run from the beach in to the warm water had the event off to a brisk start. Out front around the first buoy 200 metres off the beach were the more competitive and seasoned swimmers, with the rest of the field soon spreading out to reveal the various categories of participant in this open water surf swim event. Each series event caters for able swimmers, in specified age group categories, from 10 years of age. The start had followed registration at 6h30 in the impressive new Marine Surf Lifesaving Club clubhouse facility. The course was ably set, marshaled and patrolled by members of the Marine safety team with a crew in an inflatable water craft, and others on surfskis and Malibu boards under the watchful eye of MSLC Chairman, Trevor Martin, MSLSC duty members and event organizer, Heather Campbell.

 

After rounding the first buoy, swimmers proceeded  north along the longest leg of the mile course to round turning marks off Addington Hospital, then it was a short leg back south to a mark one hundred metres off Marine SLC, through the small surf break and a run up to the finish banners on the beach. A good number of supporters, in the form of family and friends and other interested spectators, gathered at the finish to welcome the swimmers home. KZN Masters’ swimmers turned out in their numbers to enjoy the event, featuring prominently in the various age group categories. Also noticeable were a good number of members of the local water polo fraternity. Conspicuous by his doggy absence was Max, the black Labrador, who had to give the event a miss due to his having had stitches a few days prior to the event!

 

First swimmer out of the water was fifteen year old Chris McGlynn in a time of 21 minutes 17 seconds, soon followed by Julian Taylor and Ryan Redman in second and third positions respectively. Every event is unique in some way and worthy of special mention were the achievements of Di Hughes and Merle Angelos, in the Ladies 61+ category, both making a return to surf swimming after a long absence. Well done and congratulations to all who completed this first event of the 2011 Dolphin Mile Surf Swim series. We look forward to the very real possibility of an even bigger turnout for the upcoming Easter Sunday event, with the return of swimmers from national swim and triathlon events of this weekend.

Thank you for your wonderful support of the Dolphin Mile Surf Swim events to date. Feedback on each event and/or the series is welcomed. Heather may be contacted on email heandian. should you wish to contribute to this feedback.

 

Results were quickly correlated and a brief prizegiving was held in the Marine SLC clubhouse while participants were able to enjoy the fare obtainable from the Club’s ‘Pumphouse’ refreshment facility.

A special word of thanks, on behalf of the Dolphin Mile participants and organizers, must go to the Marine Surf Lifesaving Club members for inviting the Dolphin Mile Surf Swim participants to make use of their wonderful facility for these surf swim events.

 

Marine SLC has agreed to host all of the nine events of the forthcoming Dolphin Mile Surf Swim Series. The remaining eight Series events are scheduled to take place on Sundays 24 April, 15 May, 5 June, 19 June, 26 June, 17 July, 7 August, 4 September. Swimmers completing six or more of the nine Series events will receive special recognition for their level of participation.

Dolphin Mile Surf Swim Series swim caps (compulsory due to safety requirements) will be issued on registration, at a nominal cost, to first-time 2011 series’ event participants at the 6h30 registration (start 7h30) for the next event of the Dolphin Mile Surf Swim Series on Sunday 24 April at Marine Surf Lifesaving Club. A limited number of Dolphin Mile Surf Swim Series T-shirts will also be on sale.