Exciting swim season ahead for Open Water Swimmers
Marina Martinique will once again be the venue for an action-packed open water swim season that starts this Sunday (15/10/2017) in Jeffreys Bay.
Highly regarded by swimmers as being the perfect open water swim destination, Marina Martinique has been hosting events since 1993 with many Olympians racing and training in the salt water canals over the years.
The 2017/18 open water swim season begins this Sunday with a range of distances on offer from the Olympic distance 10 km to the entry-level 1 km event.
Zsports, in conjunction with local events company Swimming Plus, will be running a five-event series, as well as the hugely popular Marina Mile, over the summer.
The final event of the series will be the official Eastern Cape Open Water Swim Champs.
The series is sanctioned by Swim South Africa and swimmers can obtain qualifying times for the South African Open Water Swim Champs that will be held in Jeffreys Bay in March.
The dates of open water swim events at Marina Martinique are:
Round 1 – Sunday 15th October
Round 2 – Sunday 12th November
Marina Mile – Saturday 30th December
Round 3 – Sunday 7th January
Round 4 – Sunday 21st January
Round 5 – Saturday 3rd February – [includes NMB OWS 10km & 3km Champs] starts 1pm
Round 5 – Sunday 4th February [includes NMB OWS 5k]
The race day program for the series is:
08h00 Registration opens
09h00 5km & 10km Start
09h10 1km & 500m Start
10h15 1km & 500m Prizegiving
11h00 3km Start
12h00 10km, 5km & 3km prize giving
The acting mayor of Kouga, Brenton Williams said that Jeffreys Bay has been firmly established as one of the finest open water swim venues in the world.
“Marina Martinique has over 5 km of saltwater canals that are protected from currents, tides and wildlife, making it an excellent training and racing venue.
The events will attract feet to town, which in turn will boost tourism and create much-needed jobs,” said Williams.
Open water swim training will take place at 5.15 pm every Tuesday and Thursday evening at Marina Martinique, starting next week.
All swimmers are welcome to join the JBay Open Water Swim Club and take on the challenge of swimming in open water.
Online entries for the swim event on Sunday can be done here