VPHS
Swimming
Back Row: Dee Kotze, Bradley Sangani, Juan Henning, Matthew Nell, Bruce Kolbe, Aaron Applewhite
Middle Row: Waison Sing Jam, Anna-Jade Badier, Seth Beukes, Rachel Riddel, Makaziwe Nyingwa, Keagan van der
Mescht, Liyema Mandlake
Front Row: Natasha Bremner, Tessa Raw, Dale Kotze (Boys Captain), Mrs A. Monteith, Nepo Ntsono (Girls Captain),
Chardon Dixon, Caitlin Wenlock
For the first time in many years, we as the Victoria
Park High School swimming team were privileged
to start our year off with a tour to Pietermaritzberg,
to take part in the Midmar Mile this past February.
It was a very long 13 hour bus trip (we were the first
to experience the new Quantum school buses) up to
Durban where we stayed in a quaint bed and breakfast. The swimmers were lucky enough to have a
free day on which they enjoyed the Kwazulu-Natal heat at uShaka Marine World and Oceanarium.
When the main day arrived, all were keen to see
what they had in store for us as many of those that
took the trip up had never swum in an open water
event before.
Shortly after our return, the Spar Sundays River
Mile loomed. Within a week, our swimmers were
back in the fast moving currents and as always, excelling beyond our belief with Daniel Jones coming
in 8th, Nepo clenching 7th, and Joshua Bellairs coming in at number 5.
Other than in the swimming pool, these three particular swimmers are making waves on the open
water front. This year Joshua Bellairs has the following achievements under his belt:
Needless to say, it was intimidating, with over 3000
swimmers of all ages, races and abilities. Our swimmers did phenomenally well. Nepo Ntsono was in
the last group to enter the water and emerged 83rd in
a time of 26 minutes. Dale Kotze, our other swimmer who had swum the Midmar before, decided he
would brave the waters with a foot that had been
broken only a few short weeks before. Rachelle
Riddel, Natasha Bremner, Liyema Mandlake, Caylin Lamb, Paige Oliphant and Tessa Raw were the
other swimmers that went along for the ride and I
am proud to say that everyone came home with a
medal to brag about their achievement.
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