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Black triumphs in toughest Indian Ocean swim in the world

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Slater Black
Pearson High School scholar, Slater Black (17), wins the record breaking Jendamark Bell Buoy Challenge on Saturday morning at Pollok Beach.

The toughest Indian Ocean swim in the world took place on Saturday morning in Nelson Mandela Bay in near perfect swimming conditions off Pollok Beach with 17 year old Pearson Scholar Slater Black winning the wetsuit category in a time of 58 minutes and 49 seconds. Conditions couldn’t have been better for the swimmers as they set off on the 5km swim and improved throughout the morning with the swimmers heading 2.5km directly out to sea to round the nautical Bell Buoy where the ocean currents make for extremely tough swimming.

The richest open water swimming race in the Eastern Cape with a prize pool of R42,000 cash saw reigning aQuellé Ocean Racing Series Champion and Nelson Mandela Bay River Mile Champion, Amica de Jager, from NMU win the ladies wetsuit category in a record time of 59 minutes and 13 seconds with former Springbok swimmer Kevin Richards placing 2nd in the Men’s Wetsuit Category ahead of top up and coming EP open water swimmer Heinrich Vorster whilst Tracy Gous, in her first Bellbuoy Challenge, placed 2nd in the ladies wetsuit swim ahead of Liza Kingston. SA Swimming legend, 49 year old Gary Albertyn of Pretoria won the Men’s swim suit category in a time of 1 hour 4 minutes ahead of Cape Town’s Andrew Turner and PE swimmer PJ Duffy in 3rd place. Black’s 15 year old sister, Paige, won the ladies swim suit category in a time of 1 hour 12 minutes ahead of Albertyn’s wife, Megan, and de Jager’s sister, Chane.

This year saw a record entry of 155 swimmers taking part with a phenomenal 47% of the field swimming the event for their first time whilst Mary-Anne Stott, Stanford Slabbert, Ralph West and Andre Kleynhans swam their 9th consecutive Bellbuoy Challenge. Eight swimmers this year won their 5 year attendance award which was a smaller version of the unique wire and bead Bellbuoy replica trophy which is hand crafted by local trader Cosmos Zvichauya..

Full results from the event can be found on the website www.bellbuoychallenge.co.za with all the action pictures on the events facebook page.

SUMMARY RESULTS – 2018 Jendamark Bellbuoy Challenge, Pollok Beach, Saturday 21st April 2018:

5km Ocean Swim – Swim Suit Category
MEN: 1 Gary Albertyn (1:04:29); 2 Andrew Turner (1:12:39); 3 Pj Duffy (1:14:57); 4 Iain Geddes (1:19:07); 5 M C Burri (1:19:15); 6 Greg Hough (1:21:32); 7 Markus Burri (1:22:00); 8 Rob Smith (1:26:04); 9 Andrew Stewart (1:39:07); 10 Emil Hougaard (1:43:10); 11 Eddie Van Eeden (1:47:26); 12 Dieter Marais (1:48:43); 13 Wayne Mukheibir (1:49:35); 14 Danie Du Toit (1:50:23); 15 Sebastian Dech (1:54:25); 16 Alec Beckett (2:07:37); 17 Gordon Turner (2:10:22); 18 George Martin Winship (2:21:44)

LADIES: 1 Paige T Black (1:12:56); 2 Megan Albertyn (1:14:19); 3 Chane De Jager (1:15:12); 4 Sanmari Woithe (1:21:18); 5 Janet Michaelides (1:28:12); 6 Nicky Van Nierop (1:40:17); 7 Madeleine Nienaber (1:43:20); 8 Karen Gibson (1:47:17); 9 Kayleigh Van Vuuren (1:53:42); 10 Nikita Werthmann (2:00:59); 11 Jill Mclellan (2:07:41); 12 Jill Weakley (2:10:08); 13 Maria Stott (2:40:59)

5km Ocean Swim – Wetsuit Category
MEN:
1 Slater Black (0:58:49); 2 Kevin Richards (1:02:57); 3 Heinrich Vorster (1:06:02); 4 Josh Tucker (1:07:23); 5 Mark Edge (1:09:26); 6 Jason Collier (1:12:54); 7 Jared Jordan (1:13:58); 8 J C Van Wyk (1:15:31); 9 Nick Mowbray (1:17:19); 10 Howard Loftus (1:17:23); 11 Graeme Renard (1:17:44); 12 Christopher De Chaves (1:18:42); 13 Vittorio Beltrame (1:18:48); 14 Gregory Harris (1:20:24); 15 Stanford Slabbert (1:20:36); 16 Steve De Beer (1:21:14); 17 Michael Kingston (1:22:06); 18 Avron Vides (1:22:24); 19 Sean Murray (1:22:50); 20 Greg Tucker (1:22:58); 21 Kevin Stone (1:23:27); 22 Rolf Kickhofel (1:23:48); 23 Roger Hooke (1:24:27); 24 Anton Kerdey (1:24:36); 25 Kenneth Pattinson (1:24:37); 26 Coenraad Louw (1:26:05); 27 Shavandre Coleman (1:26:10); 28 Dean Schmelzer (1:26:37); 29 George Smith (1:28:54); 30 Dallas Barnardo (1:29:13); 31 Bernard Lodewyk (1:29:53); 32 Ian Thomson (1:30:13); 33 Chris Howes (1:30:59); 34 Jacques Joubert (1:31:00); 35 Conal Turner (1:31:41); 36 Dalen Davidson (1:34:06); 37 John Offerman (1:34:26); 38 Mark Cooper (1:34:29); 39 Gareth Bosman (1:34:36); 40 Chris Beneka (1:35:07); 41 Paul Engler (1:35:07); 42 Neville Noble (1:38:34); 43 Grant Lemke (1:39:33); 44 Glenn Hendricks (1:39:48); 45 Sven Wusthoff (1:40:26); 46 Jason Ensor (1:40:32); 47 Charles Bataille (1:41:52); 48 Lance Oakes (1:41:54); 49 Philip Weddell (1:42:19); 50 Jeandre Jordaan (1:42:31); 51 Yazeed Cupp (1:42:41); 52 Jacques Moolman (1:42:41); 53 Evert Vermeulen (1:45:24); 54 Thomas Ivings (1:45:51); 55 Clinton Ivings (1:45:52); 56 Andre Kleynhans (1:46:53); 57 Michael Howell (1:47:06); 58 Roch Thompson (1:47:14); 59 Ralph West (1:49:30); 60 John Abbott (1:49:36); 61 Ivo Vankeirsbilck (1:52:19); 62 Wouter Van Der Westhuizen (1:54:02); 63 Helder de Almeida e Silva (1:58:27); 64 Jose Coelho (1:59:27); 65 Andrew Austin (2:01:35); 66 Leigh Shepherd (2:03:20); 67 Heinz Conrad (2:03:59); 68 Chaim Simmons (2:04:26); 69 Mark John Simmons (2:06:43); 70 Mike Webb (2:06:45); 71 Shane Saunders (2:14:04); 72 Hein Conrad Lotter (2:14:33); 73 Mu-az Mohamed (2:14:33); 74 Tyrone Blignaut (2:14:52); 75 Nolan Thompson (2:20:58); 76 Bernhard Kapp (2:24:22); 77 Graham Cox (2:26:43); 78 Willem Dafel (2:35:46); 79 Rolf Kordes (2:51:14)

LADIES: 1 Amica De Jager (0:59:13); 2 Tracy Gous (1:08:26); 3 Liza Kingston (1:15:06); 4 Jenny Potts (1:24:25); 5 Natalie Ogden (1:28:29); 6 Denise Bosman (1:28:44); 7 Katherine Stutterheim (1:28:50); 8 Lizette Owen (1:32:32); 9 Ursula Davidson (1:34:07); 10 Jane Barnardo (1:34:32); 11 Kerry Hains (1:34:36); 12 Jenny Rubidge (1:37:50); 13 Rhiannon Farrell (1:38:13); 14 Mary-anne Stott (1:39:11); 15 Elaine Smith (1:42:22); 16 Susan Derbyshire (1:42:35); 17 Simone Theunissen (1:42:38); 18 Mariette Hattingh (1:46:52); 19 Elizabeth Anderson (1:49:02); 20 Elizabeth Van Der Merwe (1:49:12); 21 Liese Meintjes (1:49:23); 22 Katy Hofmeyr (1:49:27); 23 Karen Albertyn (1:51:13); 24 Bev Truter (1:51:28); 25 Barbara Fisher-Hill (2:03:08); 26 Billie Mcnaughton (2:04:24); 27 Nina Petra Bodisch (2:07:23); 28 Rebecca Van Der Merwe (2:09:42); 29 Cheryl Gibson-dicks (2:13:18); 30 Briggetta Mey (2:15:08); 31 Hanneke Strydom (2:15:09); 32 Charlene Rademeyer (2:18:41); 33 Renée Prins (2:18:53); 34 Karen Mels (2:51:14);

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Alan Straton

Chief Cook, Bottle Washer and Broom Mechanic at MyPE
Passionate about Port Elizabeth and definitely NOT packing for Perth. Alan's ethos is epitomised in the words of Nelson Mandela; "I have fought against white domination and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the idea of a democratic and free society. If need be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die." See more articles by Alan.