Swimming the Midmar. Image from Flickr, thanks to Andrew Tweddle
My youngest son, Dieter, and I just swam our first Midmar Mile. Reported to be the largest open water swim in the world, this year around 16 000 swimmers participated. The organisers have applied for recognition in the Guinness Book of Records. The Midmar is held in high regard by swimmers, as this quote by Sam Greetham, a 2008 World Open Water Swimming Man of the Year nominee, shows:
"Nothing I have seen comes anywhere near the Midmar Mile. Both in terms of the number of participants, tip-top organization, security and safety aspects, and the interaction between the participants and the public."Well, we survived the melee at the start (two weeks ago I was left with a black eye after a rough start in another open water swim) and the swim itself was fairly comfortable. Dieter completed it in 32 minutes and I in 38 minutes, which placed each of us approximately half-way in our respective categories of boys 14 to 16 years and veteran men 51 to 60 years.
Shall we do it again? Time will tell, but at this stage my main impression is that dam swimming is for Platanna's (literally "flat Anna", an African frog well-known for its role in pregnancy tests).
A Platanna. Image from Encyclopaedia Brittanica.
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