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NMBA Open Water Swim Champs

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This weekend sees a showdown of EP’s top open water swimmers as the Nelson Mandela Bay Aquatics (NMBA) Open Water Swim Championships takes place at Marina Martinique.

Ian Venter
EP’s top performing open water swimmer, Ian Venter, from Pearson High School will be the favourite going into this weekend’s NMBA 5km and 3km championships.

Saturday will feature the NMBA 5km Championships starting at 2pm whilst Sunday hosts the NMBA 10km Championships at 9am and the 3pm Championships at 12 noon. Other swimming events on offer this weekend will be a 3km swim on Saturday starting at 2.10pm for swimmers requiring an additional 3km qualifying time and on Sunday there will be a 1km and 500m swim, open to all.

SA Schools swimming captain and Pearson High School Head Boy, Ian Venter, heads the standings for this weekend’s 5km swim with a qualifying time of 1hr 1min but can expect tough competition from Aquabear swim club team mates Credence Pattinson, Slater Black, Nicholas Adam and Cole Craig. NMMU Student and BEST swimmer Kirsten Marriott will be looking for the win in the ladies 5km swim but will have to fight hard against the likes of Woodrigde Collage’s Amica de Jager, PEA’s Jessica Canter and Infinity swimmer Hannah Haswell.

Sunday’s 10km swim already as half a dozen pre-entries, mostly from the Western Cape, but will also feature St Francis based Liquid Lines swimmer Amica de Jager and Port Elizabeth swimmer Kevin Richards. Sundays 3km swim will be the showdown of the season with a much anticipated swim-off between Venter, Pattinson, Black and Cullen Biddulph from BEST. Black and Biddulph featured in a fantastic tie during Round 3 towards the end of last year, touching in a time of 37 minutes 58 seconds with Venter’s best for the season at the Series being 38:04 in a race where he wasn’t pushed to the line.

The ladies 3k will be equally as exciting with the eventual winner sure to come from Jessica Beukes, Canter, Payton Horton or Tasneen Ebrahim. With visiting swimmers from the Border, Southern Cape and Western Cape having entered for this weekend’s events, the competition is expected to be ensure some fast Swimming SA qualifying times.

Online registration is still available on www.ecswim.co.za with late entries being accepted at the Marina up ot 30 minutes before the specific race starts. Best vantage point for spectators is from the stunning Marina Wharf Restaurant. Following the Championships the Nelson Mandela Bay Aquatics team will be selected for the upcoming SA Open Water Championships at the beginning of March in Port Elizabeth.

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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.