2017 Open Water National Champioships
The Open Water National Championships was held on the 4th and 5th of March 2017 at the Marina Martinique near Jefferys Bay in the Eastern Cape.
The Championships are well attended by all provinces in South Africa, including a large team from Namibia. The salt water in the Marina took some adjusting to. The extra buoyancy of salt water, added to the advantage of sea level altitude usually makes the 5km swim a more competitive race, for swimmers that train usually train at altitude.
The Aquatic Academy are immensely proud of Nicholas Smith (ESP Kempton Park), who was 1 of 5 swimmers selected by Eastern Gauteng Aquatics for both the 3km and grueling 5km events.
The 3km was swum first on the Saturday, where Nicholas took more than 6 minutes off his previous best time, to finish in a time of 36 minutes 55 seconds (As a point of reference, many Midmar swimmers do not complete that 1.5km swim, within that time). He placed 13th in his age group and 11th in the 5km event.
The EGA 4 swimmer relay team scored a very close 4th place.
