Catherine van Rensburg ensured there was a South African winner at this year’s aQuellé Midmar Mile, claiming top honours in the elite women’s race while New Zealander Louis Clark just edged out the local contingent in a thrilling finish to take the men’s title.
Competing in her first Midmar Mile, Van Rensburg led from the start, pulling away from the pack along with teammate and lane-mate at TUKS, Callan Lotter. The duo battled choppy conditions to remain out front and it was Van Rensburg, who had reached all three hotspots at the 400, 800 and 1200m marks just ahead, who made the decisive move in the final metres to cross the finish in 19 minutes 49 to take the title.
Lotter was second in 20:06 and, for the first time in aQuellé Midmar Mile history, there was a tie for third with 2022 champion Stephanie Houtman and New Zealand swimmer Ruby Heath crossing the finish in exactly the same time of 20:32 leaving officials unable to separate them even after reviewing video footage
“This is my first Midmar race so I’m so happy with it,” said Van Rensburg afterwards. “The conditions were a little bit choppy but I just pushed through. Callan and I are best friends so we swim together the whole time and we just tried to push each other to see how far we could get.”
Lotter added: “It was quite tough with all the waves – you could hardly see where you were going so I was just trying to follow Catherine the whole way.”
Heath’s compatriot Louis Clark took to the water in the elite men’s race. The duo had earned their tickets to the Midmar Mile by winning their respective 5km titles at the New Zealand national open water championships, thanks to an arrangement between race director Wayne Riddin and former SA national coach Graham Hill, who is now New Zealand’s Olympic coach, and also a former winner at Midmar.
Clark, who is a world champion in lifesaving, put his ocean swimming skills to good use in the rough conditions, admitting he was grinning broadly when he saw the waves in the dam. He took the challenge to the strong pack of South Africans, surging ahead at 400, 800 and 1200m to claim the hotspot prizes.
A group of six swimmers were still in contention for the title in the final 400m of the race and it all came down to a frantic final sprint – Clark showing his experience to edge ahead and take the win in 19:07 in what was one of the closest men’s races in Midmar history. Henré Louw was runner-up after finishing just two seconds back with Matthew Caldwell third in 19:12.
Words and photo of Catherine van Rensburg supplied
