Teacher/coach swims eight miles for charity
Benoni resident Bradley McManus was one of a select bunch of swimmers who joined the Midmar Mile’s 8 Mile Club this past weekend, February 13 to February 14.
The club requires the swimmers to complete all eight races on the Midmar Mile programme, and in the process raise funds for the various charitable organisations that are identified by the club each year.
Each swimmer in the club is expected to raise at least R10 000 for the various charities each year. Each pays an entry fee that covers their entries into all the miles, as well as food, apparel and the boat trips to take them back to the start of each race.
He swam and raised funds for Singakwenza Early Childhood Education, a KwaZulu-Natal-based charity that aims to build sustainable early childhood education programmes in economically disadvantaged communities.
McManus, a grades 8, 9 and 10 history teacher and a swimming and water polo coach at Benoni High School (BHS), swam all eight races without having done much preparation beforehand.
“To be honest, I didn’t train that hard as I had a lung infection about three weeks ago, which knocked me down quite badly.
“I also got a virus the week after which put me in hospital for a day, so I didn’t have much time to get into the pool,” he said.
He realised that his setbacks were small as compared to some of his fellow 8 Mile Club swimmers.
“One gentleman does not have use of his legs and swam all eight events, while another guy was doing it without an arm.
“That’s when I thought, ‘I’m good, I’ll just carry on.’”
He also praised the members of the 16 Mile Club who did double the amount of swimming in the name of charity.
“They really made us appreciate what we were doing,” he added.
Besides countless daily early morning training sessions with the BHS pupils at the Benoni Northerns Swimming Pool as well teaching his classes,the Benoni resident somehow still has the time to set his sights on a March date at the South African Masters Swimming Championships, to be held at the Kings Park Aquatic Centre in Durban, where, among taking part in some short course events, he will be taking part in an open-water event in the Indian Ocean – a first for the swimmer.
