The first round of the Secbands EPA Swim Challenge Series took place on Sunday morning amid strong winds at Marina Martinique with the swimmer of the event being 14 year old Reegan Tait of Pinetown, Durban.
Tait won the 5km swim in a SA qualifying time of 1hr 9min and then followed this up with a win in the 3km event in 41min 47sec. Only two swimmers braved the marathon swimming distances with PE’s Kevin Grey completing the 10km swim in 2hrs 59min whilst EP 10km ladies champion Rebecca Newman did the 7.5km swim in 1hr 52min.
A great turnout in the 5km swim saw Tammy Geyer winning the ladies division ahead of Chane de Jager whilst Duncan Edwards and JC van Wyk placed 2nd and 3rd respectively in the Men’s Divison.
The most popular event on the morning was the Secbands 3km swim which saw Tait winning the Men’s race from Jeffreys Bay swimmer Dylan Swith and Port Elizabeth’s Joshua Bellair whilst Jeffreys Bay ladies swimmer Caro de Jager took the ladies title from PE’s Veruschka Jordaan and Amy Mardon.
The 1km swim saw a great turnout from the boys of the Masakhane Future Stars program which is supported by Willard Batteries. The Future Stars are young swimmers from Motherwell who are assisted by Zports and Willard Batteries to attend local swimming events around the Eastern Cape. Whilst Philip Smallman won the 1km Men’s division from 11 year old Kyle de Lange and Craig Dickson, 12 year old Jade Grobbelaar won the ladies race from Amy Bellairs and Hannah Counihan. Future Stars Sakhumzi Gqagqa, Xolisa Fololo and Sihle Jacobs took the top 3 spots in the 14 – 39 age group.
The Secbands EPA Swim Challenge Series is the only Swimming South Africa qualifying event in the Province and takes place on the first Sunday of the month in the build up to the EP Open Water Swimming Championships on the 19th 20th January 2013. Full results and information on the Series is available on the website www.ecswim.co.za
Full Results – Marina Martinique, Sunday 7 October 2012, Round One:
- Secbands 10km Swim: 1 Kevin Grey (2:59:23.5)
- Secbands 7.5km Swim: 1 Rebecca Newman (2:16:28.8)
- Secbands 5km Swim: 1 Reegan Tait (1:34:05.8); 2 Tammy Geyer (1:35:18.9); 3 Jc Van Wyk (1:41:41.8); 4 Chane De Jager (1:41:47.0); 5 Brenton Williams (2:13:27.8)
- Secbands 5km Wetsuit Swim: 1 Duncan Edwards (1:40:40.5); 2 Chris Van Der Walt (2:02:38.8)
- Secbands 3km Swim: 1 Reegan Tait (3:42:56.2); 2 Caro De Jager (3:43:05.2); 3 Dylan Smith (3:43:25.3); 4 Joshua Bellair (3:44:14.8); 5 Veruschka Jordaan (3:44:17.5); 6 Amy Mardon (3:44:38.0); 7 Peter-John Duffy (3:44:50.6); 8 Rebecca Newman (3:46:09.4); 9 Richden Jute (3:51:30.4); 10 Stephani Le Roux (3:51:52.2); 11 Denise Bosman (3:52:16.4); 12 Cole Craig (3:52:47.4); 13 Ralph West (3:53:17.7); 14 Angela Finlay (3:54:38.4); 15 Adele Hunter-Smith (3:55:55.1); 16 Chantelle O’Kennedy (3:57:46.9); 17 Mary-Anne Stott (3:58:49.4); 18 Kendal Wright (3:58:52.8); 19 Stanford Slabbert (4:04:09.9); 20 Glenda-Lee Thomas (4:08:14.4); 21 Nina Petra Bodisch (4:14:59.9)
- Secbands 3km Wetsuit Swim: 1 Christian Schuck (3:51:36.4); 2 Philip Weddell (3:51:46.3); 3 Martin Croucamp (4:08:06.8); 4 Brett Croucamp (4:08:08.2); 5 Jose Neves (4:11:53.2)
- Secbands 1km Swim: 1 Jade Grobbelaar (3:17:29.6); 2 Kyle De Lange (3:17:42.5); 3 Craig Dickson (3:17:48.1); 4 Matthew Roux (3:17:48.4); 5 Brenton Williams (3:21:49.7); 6 Amy Bellairs (3:22:15.8); 7 Sakhumzi Gqagqa (3:22:58.3); 8 Xolisa Fololo (3:23:05.9); 9 Hannah Counihan (3:23:13.6); 10 Ayabonga Dingana (3:23:39.9); 11 Axolile Mbeki (3:28:05.9); 12 Sihle Jacobs (3:28:25.7); 13 Sandiso Makhonza (3:28:26.3); 14 Andile Majenge (3:30:05.0)
- Secbands 1km Wetsuit Swim: 1 Philip Smallman (3:17:10.7)
- Secbands Bank to Bank Kids Swim: 1 Bianca Ansley; 2 Tristan Zoetmulder; 3 Christian Appels; 4 Miche Genis; 5 Ben Genis; 6 Gabi Grobbelaar.
