MyPE

Community Business Directory, Event Listings, News and Views from Gqeberha, Nelson Mandela Bay

Records tumble in Africa’s toughest 5km Indian Ocean swim

By

The 2014 Nelson Mandela Bay Bell Buoy Challenge held on Saturday 8 March in Algoa Bay will be remembered as a record breaking year which not only featured the highest number of entries for this unique swim but also the highest number of finishers and the oldest participant for the race.

Just over 100 participants entered the toughest 5km Indian Ocean swim which sees participants swim some 2.5km directly out to sea around a cardinal marker buoy and back again in testing conditions. Conditions on Saturday were extremely flat for the swimmers due to the moderate off-shore winds which assisted swimmers on the way out to the buoy ensuring that all participants reached the buoy in under 50 minutes, coming back wasn’t as easy with some swimmers taking over 2 hours 30 minutes to complete the second half of the race and one swimmer being withdrawn for not reaching the cut-off point in time as they swam against an outgoing tide and into the wind.

Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan University student Byron Locket lead from start to finish to become only the second Port Elizabeth winner of the swim, finishing in a fast time of 1 hour 1min and 53 seconds from 15 year old Dylan Smith and Pretoria swimming legend Gary Albertyn. PE’s Kirsten Marriott finished the swimsuit category in 5th place overall in a time of 1 hour 8min and 18 seconds to claim the ladies title from Genna Greevelink and Tammy Geyer whilst Jendamark’s Gustav Lokotsch won the wetsuit race in a time of 1 hour 4min and 34 seconds from Miles Rosser and Jason Kalogeropoulos. 15 year old Amy Mardon won the wetsuit ladies category in 1 hour 16min ahead of Natalie Goedhals and Idelette Olivier.

The oldest participant to ever complete the Bell Buoy Challenge is Rob Connacher who was 80 years and 3 days old on Saturday morning, placing 60th in the wetsuit category in a time of 2 hours 53 minutes.

Bell Buoy Swim Start
Start of the 2014 Bell Buoy Challenge in Port Elizabeth
Kirsten Marriott
Alexander Road High School pupil – Kirsten Marriott, winner of the ladies swim
Rob Connacher
80 year old Rob Connacher before the start of the Bell Buoy swim.

Results:

5km Swimsuit Category

  • MEN: 1 Byron Lockett (1:01:53.5); 2 Dylan Smith (1:03:17.5); 3 Gary Albertyn (1:03:52.8); 4 Jason Jones (1:05:29.3); 5 Pj Duffy (1:08:49.7); 6 Ian Venter (1:09:08.6); 7 Andrew Turner (1:12:00.5); 8 M.C. Burri (1:12:46.7); 9 Chris Mowbray (1:14:20.7); 10 Jc Van Wyk (1:18:10.0); 11 Michael Marais (1:20:02.5); 12 Warren Fialkov (1:21:12.5); 13 Wayne Ketteringahm (1:22:03.7); 14 Markus Burri (1:23:49.2); 15 Kuno Boettiger (1:28:41.2); 16 Ralph West (1:30:17.7); 17 Iain Geddes (1:30:24.7); 18 Robert Geddes (1:30:29.8); 19 Richden Jute (1:40:46.2); 20 Andrew Stewart (1:45:36.6); 21 Nicolaas Tjaart Van Der Linde (1:47:09.3); 22 Simon Barry (1:48:12.6); 23 Wayne Mukheibir (1:55:17.5); 24 Kendal Wright (1:57:52.7); 25 Brenton Williams (2:01:04.6); 26 Jonathan Mandell (2:02:35.7); 27 Ian Van Der Walt (2:33:09.4); 28 Jose Neves (2:51:50.4);
  • LADIES: 1 Kirsten Marriott (1:08:18.3); 2 Genna Greevelink (1:16:04.1); 3 Tammy Geyer (1:16:47.6); 4 Sanmari Woithe (1:20:25.3); 5 Mary-Anne Stott (1:45:36.8); 6 Amy Erasmus (2:05:39.7); 7 Georgie Darke (2:34:24.5); 8 Maria Stott (2:48:32.0);

5km Wetsuit Category

  • MEN: 1 Gustav Lokotsch (1:04:34.6); 2 Miles Rosser (1:04:47.1); 3 Jason Kalogeropoulos (1:05:40.3); 4 Robert Masterton (1:13:24.0); 5 Gawie Henning (1:16:16.7); 6 Rudi Schoeman (1:16:24.1); 7 Dylan Stone (1:17:15.2); 8 Rohan Greyvenstein (1:20:43.6); 9 Christopher Malan (1:21:10.5); 10 Donovan Zoetmulder (1:21:12.5); 11 Igor Coetzer (1:22:20.2); 12 Matt Shellard (1:22:32.6); 13 Mark Edge (1:22:37.7); 14 Peter Marriott (1:24:32.2); 15 Craig Black (1:25:53.0); 16 Mark Willimott (1:26:18.0); 17 Steven Buhr (1:26:18.2); 18 Iain Barrow (1:27:46.6); 19 Yusuf Arendse (1:27:56.8); 20 Greg Tucker (1:28:07.7); 21 Antony Daniels (1:28:22.1); 22 Christopher De Chaves (1:29:44.8); 23 Michael Kingston (1:31:06.7); 24 Stanford Slabbert (1:31:37.3); 25 Dalen Davidson (1:32:50.2); 26 Andre Kleynhans (1:32:56.1); 27 Michael Wallis (1:34:44.5); 28 Jurie Schoeman (1:38:03.2); 29 Carel Van Niekerk (1:38:14.2); 30 Bradley Taylor (1:39:26.3); 31 Conal Turner (1:40:43.1); 32 Mark Cooper (1:43:04.0); 33 Bernus Olivier (1:49:31.5); 34 Chris Viljoen (1:50:10.1); 35 Dean Findlay (1:50:40.8); 36 Roch Thomposn (1:53:21.6); 37 Jacques Joubert (2:00:33.2); 38 Ian Ross (2:06:04.5); 39 Michael Fowler (2:10:03.6); 40 Chris Van Der Walt. (2:11:55.6); 41 Philippus Marais (2:12:43.3); 42 Grant Hechter (2:12:46.5); 43 Willem Dafel (2:16:16.5); 44 Nicholas Andrews (2:22:08.2); 45 Helder De Almeida E Silva (2:27:53.0); 46 John Abbott (2:32:42.5); 47 Simon Alderson-Smith (2:39:38.2); 48 Rob Connacher (2:53:35.9); 49 Willi Lawson (2:56:30.0);
  • LADIES: 1 Amy Mardon (1:16:21.7); 2 Natalie Goedhals (1:22:18.1); 3 Idelette Olivier (1:28:39.3); 4 Denise Bosman (1:29:44.8); 5 Liza Bright (1:31:04.3); 6 Lauren Munton (1:33:00.1); 7 Kerry Hains (1:39:21.3); 8 Jane Barnardo (1:39:21.7); 9 Brigitte Melly (1:42:28.6); 10 Phillipa Holtz (1:44:27.2); 11 Lizette Owen (1:49:17.2); 12 Tracey Grosse (1:51:39.2);
The following two tabs change content below.
My Twitter profileMy Facebook profileMy Google+ profileMy LinkedIn profileMy Flickr profileMy Pinterest profile

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.