Acclaimed swimmer shares her life experiences with Garland Ladies

Doctor Karon ‘Kiki’ Marx, an anaesthetist in Johannesburg, had the women of the Garland Ladies Luncheon Club on the edge of their seats last week with her inspirational stories of incredible aquatic feats, including swimming the English Channel, at their monthly meeting at Ebotse Golf and Country Estate on February 28.

Swimming the English Channel was Kiki’s dream since she was seven years old and in October 2014, more than 40 years later, she committed to making this dream come true.

The distance in a straight line across the English Channel is 33.3 kilometres.

“The journey to swimming the English Channel was difficult, but incredible, requiring hard work, self-motivation, determination and dedication,” Kiki said.

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“I get up every morning at 3.20am and am in the water at my local gym at 4am.

“I swim for one or two hours, depending on my work schedule, and on Sundays, I do 10, 12 or 15km swims.

“In preparation for the English Channel, I aimed to do 30km swimming per week, which I did, and also 10 ocean swims, of which I completed seven.”

To qualify for the English Channel swim Kiki had to swim for six hours in a straight line, in 60-degree water, which she did in March 2016.

A month before the English Channel swim she completed a double Robben Island swim, which means she swam from Big Bay to Robben Island and back.

In September 2016 her dream came true. She got in the water in Dover, her body covered in grease to prevent chafing.

With the South African flag waving from the back of her boat, when the fog horn sounded Kiki took her first strokes towards France.

She described swimming in the dark for four and a half hours – it was cold and she suffered severe cramps, but she just kept swimming.

With a break allowed every 30 minutes, Kiki was not allowed to touch the boat or any person, so her crew would throw a lunchbox out to her on a rope.

Kiki got stung by jellyfish twice, but she just kept going.

Unfortunately, the tide was too strong and it kept pulling her backwards and sideways as she struggled for three hours to reach the beach in France.

After 19 hours in the water and 400 metres from the end, she was asked to get out of the water by the Channel Swimming Association monitor.

“I begged and pleaded. I just wanted to carry on, but she was adamant and said I had to get out of the water.

“I got out of the water crying and devastated. I just wanted to call my mum and tell her I was okay,” Kiki said.

Although she struggled with coming to terms with not completing the swim and blamed herself, Kiki said the freak currents that day saw four of the five swimmers being pulled from of the water.

“I had to accept I wasn’t meant to finish – where I ended is where I was meant to be,” she said.

Despite this disappointment, in November 2016 Kiki became one of the first 25 people to swim across the Dead Sea from Jordan to Israel.

These swimming achievements taught her valuable lessons, which she shared with the Garland Ladies:

• Have a goal and go for it.

• You can’t beat nature.

• Nothing in life comes without determination, hard work and effort.

“I didn’t conquer the English Channel in 2016, but I hope to make it in August 2019,” she concluded.

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