Taking the plunge!

The temperatures may be freezing but the competition’s only just heating up!  Now in its 42^nd year, the Sasol National Winter Swimming Championships attracts over 1000 participants from swimming clubs all over South Africa and neighbouring countries.

Already into the fouth day of this week-long event, 15 new record times have been set.  Tanya Pieterse, swimming for Harties Red Bears, set four new record times while Ude Fuchs from Progress Swimming Academy and Ethan de Wit from Kosvies have two new record times under their belt so far.

Cullen Thomas of Welkom Aquatics and Tristan Marais from Potchefstroom Swimming Club have also set new record times.

A record that was almost broken was by Zander Landman was the 50m backstroke (under 10) , who was 0.04 seconds behind previous record-holder, Ryk Neethling, in 1987.

According to Jan Barnard, Chairman of the Sasolburg Swimming Club and Local Organising Committee, “This event indicates that the upcoming swimmers are achieving the times of longstanding record holders. They are the names to look out for in the future. With two days still to go, we will probably see a few more record times being broken,” he said. 

Tickets and the event programme are available at the gate of the Penny Heyns Swimming Pool, Sasolburg. For more information,  please contact the Sasolburg Swimming Club on 016 976 1638 or 082 781 5523.

Captions

Image 1:  Tanya Pieterse broke the ice by setting four new record times at this year’s Sasol National Winter Swimming Championships.  She has set the new record time of 30.56 in the girls 50 meter butterfly heats, 30.57 in the girls 50 meter butterfly finals, 33.04 in the girls 50 meter backstroke heats and 32.89 in the girls 50 meter backstroke finals

Image 2:  Ude Fuchs from Progress Swimming Academy has set two new record times at the championships.  The new record times of 28.82 in the boys 50 meter backtroke heats and 28.86 in the boys 50 meter backstroke finals are the new times to beat

Image 3:  From left: Ethan de Wit (Kosvies), Cullen Thomas (Welkom Aquatics) and Tristan Marais (Potchefstroom Swimming Club) are hoping to set a few more record times before the end of this week.  Ethan has set the new record time of 1:10:08 in the boys 100 meter butterfly while Cullen has set a time of 31.68 in the boys 50 meter backstroke and Tristan has set the new time of 26.20 in the boys 50 meter freestyle

Ends

Issued by:

Cobus Jansen, Communication Manager
Direct telephone +27 (16) 960 2646; Mobile +27 (0) 82 410 6882;
cobus.jansen@sasol.com

Alex Anderson, Group Media Manager
Direct telephone +27 (11) 441 3295; Mobile +27 (0) 71 600 9605;
alex.anderson@sasol.com

Jacqui O’Sullivan, GM: Group Communication
Direct telephone +27 (11) 441 3252; Mobile +27 (0) 82 883 9697;
jacqui.osullivan@sasol.com