The action-packed Kouga Easter Festival for 2022 saw close to 50 swimmers take to the canals of Marina Martinique in Jeffreys Bay on April 17 for the inaugural Easter Swim.
“Rated as South Africa’s premier open water swimming venue, Marina Martinique is a perfect open water swim venue due to the protected and pollution free saltwater canals,” said Kouga Executive Mayor, Horatio Hendricks.
“Making the event even more special, is that it catered for swimmers of all fitness levels.”
Greeted by cold water and cloudy skies – and scattered raindrops – the 400m dash was the first event to take to the water.
This event is aimed at entry level open water swimmers, as well as those wanting to sprint the distance to see how fast they can swim and was dominated by Jeffreys Bay-based swimmers.
Jeffreys Bay swimmer, Bleyten Smit, won a tightly contested 400m dash, with another JBay swimmer, Cameron Campbell, coming second and Shane Hamilton coming third.
Kadin Walter had a good swim to finish fourth and Ryan Steyn finished strongly in fifth position.
In the women’s 400m, Shaela Hamilton came first, with Jeffreys Bay swimmers, Abigayle Butler, coming second and Clara Gerber, third.
“The water was cold, and I didn’t swim in a wetsuit, but I enjoyed the swim,” said Campbell after the event.
“Next time I won’t go surfing before the race so I will have more energy to swim faster,” he added.
The Half Mile was the next event to take to the saltwater canals and the top three men were Ares Sakelliou, Hendro de Beer, and Carl Andrews.
The top three women to cross the finish line were Emma Puffett, Milla Delport, and Gabi Grobbelaar.
There was plenty of excitement and nerves for the Bank-to-Bank, which is an introductory swim for swimmers up to the age of 10.
The cold conditions did little to deter Mia Jordaan from powering to victory in the 9-10 age group, with Mienke Kok coming second from Zane van Aswegen. Erin Campbell did well, in her first swim, to finish fourth.
Rio Jacobs came first in the 9-10 boy’s category, while his younger brother, Koda, came first in the 7-8 category. Reese Jordaan won the girls’ 7-8 years category in her first ever open water swim.
“The water was cold, but I wanted to defend my title that I won in the bank-to-bank swim at the Marina Mile,” said Koda Jacobs.
“It was a tough swim as I have been practising more rugby lately and am vice-captain of my team so I had to swim very fast at the end of the bank-to- bank to make sure I won,” added Jacobs.
The premier event of the morning – the Easter Mile – was the last event to take place.
Ares Sakelliou did the double when he crossed the finish line first, after having won the half mile earlier in the day. Madeleen van Zuydam won the women’s category.
Hendricks has welcomed the event and said it was a positive sign for tourism in Jeffreys Bay and the wider Kouga region.
The Easter Swim was hosted by Kouga Municipality and supported by Nicholas Melck.
