Ho pumped up to make it eight Midmar Miles in a row
THE country’s undisputed top men’s open water swimmer, Chad Ho, is alive and well and looking forward to this year’s aQuelle Midmar Mile which takes place on February 11-12 at the popular KZN Midlands resort.
Ho, 26 in June and educated at Westville Boys’ High School, came ninth in the 2008 men’s open water 10km marathon at the Beijing Olympics and was the overall champion of the 2010 Fina World Cup 10km open water series which also earned for him the 2010 Fina Open Water Swimmer of the Year title.
He failed to qualify for the 2012 London Olympics which was rather disappointing for him but he had the satisfaction of coming 10th in last year’s 10km race at the Rio Olympics.
His Midmar Mile record is no less impressive as he has won the open men’s race an amazing seven years in succession, from 2010 to 2016 inclusive, and will be bidding for an eighth title.
Ho says the Midmar Mile fills a special place in his life as it is the first major event of his year and he regards it as, first and foremost, a “family” occasion as all his immediate family come to the race to be with him and to support him.
“It’s all about having a good time and we make a full day of it with breakfast and lunch braais and it all adds up to a great atmosphere with good vibes,” he said.
The success he has enjoyed swimming in the Midmar Mile has been a contributing factor to his desire to return year after year for more.
Asked what lay in store for him later this year he said he would be focusing on the 17th Fina World Championships to be held in Hungary in July.
But looking a little further into the future Ho said the 2020 Tokyo Olympics were his long term goal and he had his sights firmly set on them.
Looking back to last year’s 10km open water swim at the Rio Olympics Ho said he had felt quite relaxed before the start of the race at Rio’s famous Copacabana Beach.
“There was a short swim out to the start, he said, “which helped me to gather my thoughts but I knew I was in the right place and I was feeling confident about the race,” he said.
However, when he found himself lying in 21st position going into the last 2km lap he stepped up his pace which saw him overtake no less than 11 swimmers to finish in 10th place.
Ho was only five seconds behind the winner, Ferry Weertman of the Netherlands, who took the gold medal in 1hr52min59sec with Ho clocking 1hr53min04sec!
Ho, aiming for an eighth straight Midmar Mile victory, will have the opportunity of turning the tables on Weertman next Sunday (Feb 12) while American Chip Peterson will also be facing Ho for the first time in Ho’s home waters, so things look like becoming rather hectic in this race.
At least nine international swimmers are expected in next Sunday’s main men’s and women’s races, five in the men’s race and four in the women’s. Like Ho, defending women’s champion Michelle Weber, 20, faces stiff international competition with two-time women’s race winner (in 2013 and 2014) American Ashley Twichell, and Britain’s Holly Hibbott, runner-up last year, expected to make it a three-way race.
Weber was timed at 19:12 last year and she will be attempting her 10th crossing and carrying South Africa’s hopes of another SA victory.
The respective men’s and women’s open records for the one mile (1.61km) crossing are 17:00 minutes by Chad Ho last year and 17:33 by British Olympic swimmer Keri-Anne Payne in 2004.
With the capacity of the dam at around 67%, swimmers who have entered next weekend’s Midmar Mile will find the water level in the dam considerably improved from last year’s level, when the capacity was reckoned to be below 50%.
Entries appear to be similar to those in the past two years for the world’s greatest open water event and stood at around 14 000 spread across the eight races on the programme, four on the Saturday and another four on Sunday.
Gail Bristow has completed the most crossings by a female with 42, followed by Lyn Schroder and Jill Quikke, both on 38, and Barbara Bowley on 37.
As for the men, Mike Arbuthnot and Mike Pengelly lead the way with 43 crossings each, Martin Godfrey with 42 and George Watson with 40.
The oldest men entered this year are Ted Beukes who is 86 years of age, Mike Arbuthnot 84, Patrick Galvin and Tommy Ballantyne both 83 and Brian Birch 81 while the oldest women entered are Anne Hanson 79, Beth Lordan 75, Salome Hurwitz 74 and Jenny Bester and Anneke Botha, both 72.