Ashanti to host Swim Challenge

Nestled in the foothills of the Paarl Valley,
the picturesque Ashanti Estate will become a hive of activity this weekend as South Africa’s
premier open water series, The Swim Challenge Series gets underway on Sunday.

With over R20, 000.00 on offer in
prize money, leading athletes from as far as Gauteng,
Kwa Zulu Natal and the Eastern Cape are set to
take up the challenge to their Western
Cape counterparts.

The diminutive Velia Janse van
Rensburg is sure to provide the likes of Natalie du Toit, Yolandi van der Merwe
and Stephanie Bakhuis with some competitive opposition while Chad Ho and Shaun
Dias are sure to bring out the best in James Faure and David Marais.

The Swim Challenge Series has grown
in stature over the past three summers and this is evident in the growing
number of participants in the discipline. The series is the official seeding
events for the Halfway Telkom Midmar Mile as well as the qualifying events for
the inaugural SA National Open Water Championships, scheduled to be held on 2nd
& 3rd February 2008 and SSA National OWS Squad consideration.

The Swim Challenge Series enters a
new phase this weekend encompassing the first regional championship and being
held over a two day period. The 10km, 5km and 3km events are in the program
along with the popular 1km recreational swim, whose times are used for the
Midmar Mile. As usual the 500m fun swim will conclude matters.

The 10km event will take place on
Sunday – 16th at 12.00hrs and will be an open mixed event. The program
continues on Monday – 17th  with the 5km
open mixed starting at 08.00hrs and the 3km open mixed event starting at
08.30hrs. From 10.00hrs the 1km events start at 45minute intervals with the
500m fun swim scheduled to conclude matters at 13.00hrs.

For more information go to www.swimsa.co.za and www.superswimmer.co.za.