Eager swimmers from around South Africa gathered at Midmar Dam this past weekend to participate in the 44th Midmar Mile, the World’s Largest Open Water Swimming Event. The blazing heat did not deter Varsity College student Matthew Meyer (1st year The IIE Bachelor of Accounting), as he took the coveted title away from 7 times winner Chad Ho (Varsity College Alumni). It was a star studded line up of swimmers for the main race with USA’s Open Water Champion Chip Peterson and the Rio Olympic Open Water gold medalist Ferry Weertman from Netherlands finishing 3rd and 4th respectively.
The race was hotly contested with the lead changing a few times before Meyer emerged out of the water victorious. “I’m over the moon with winning this title. Having come 2nd two years in a row it is an amazing achievement for me. It was a strong field with Chad Ho who won the title last year and other amazing swimmers like Ferry Weertman and Chip Peterson, so I felt like the underdog, but I came up on top,” said Matthew.
The relay events on the Saturday also saw Varsity College teams take two of the top spots on the podium in the Non-Company relay finishing 1st and 3rd. These teams consisted of students from the Durban North, Westville and Pretoria campuses including Rio Olympian Myles Brown (1st year The IIE Bachelor of Commerce) and African Champ Martin Bindell (2nd Year The IIE Bachelor of Commerce). “I’m thrilled with the achievements of our students this weekend. They have certainly got off to a great start to 2017. As long as the students take advantage of all the academic support on campus, they will succeed with their academics and advance their swimming careers. The highlight will be to see them representing SA and Varsity College in the international arena”, says Carole Adam National Sports Manager Varsity College.
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The students have a demanding schedule this year both in the lecture room and in the pool, with their eyes set on the FINA World Champs in Budapest in July followed by World Student Games in Taipei in August.