A SPONTANEOUS entry has earned former uMhlanga resident, Cara-Lee Swanepoel, the title of this year’s Miss Umhlanga Winter Beach Babe.
The 15-year-old Pretoria beauty was crowned at the annual Umhlanga Winter Festival on Saturday. “I met some of my friends here for the day and they urged me to enter for the fun of it, so I did. It was a last-minute spontaneous decision,” she laughed.
Swanepoel and her family move around a lot and were down in Durban to finalise the sale of their house when she entered the competition. When asked about how she felt about winning the competition, she said she was still shocked by the outcome.
“I feel overwhelmed and overjoyed. I did not expect it at all. I had never done something like this. It was a totally new experience,” she added. It was an interesting challenge to walk and smile. I kept thinking ‘Is this the right smile?’ Although we had to go backstage where they taught us how to walk and pose it was still an interesting challenge,” she said.
After winning the competition, the former Crawford College North Coast pupil said she doesn’t really have aspirations for the runway. “Actually I am an inspiring actor. I don’t really see myself on the runway. This was just for the fun of the experience. Something that I can tick off my bucket list,” she said.
