uMhlanga lifesavers bring home the gold

MEMBERS of the Umhlanga Rocks Surf Lifesaving Club (Rox) pulled off some impressive results at this year’s DHL Lifesaving South Africa National Club Championships in Gqeberha.

Northglen News recently caught up with four of its members, Carryl van Bassen (Masters), Tatum Both (Junior), Brayden Bergset (Junior) and Gal Marks (Nippers). The team spoke about their individual achievements.

For Botha, the results were the culmination of hard work under the tutelage of her dad, Dylan, a former Protea lifesaver and national surf champion, who coached the junior team.

“I’m really pleased with how I performed. The medals are just the cherry on the top, but it was important for me to reach my goals and secure podium finishes. I competed in 12 events and won 10 medals. I won gold for ski, the ironwoman race and run, swim, run. I won silver in board and swim and I won gold for the 200m obstacle event in the stillwater category. My goal is to go to Australia next year to compete in the Nutri-Grain Lifesaving series, which would be a fantastic opportunity,” Botha said.

Botha and fellow junior, Brayden Bergset were also selected for the Lifesaving SA team that will compete at this year’s ILS Africa Championships in Alexandra, Egypt, in December.

Bergset won seven medals in total in Gqeberha , four gold and three silvers.

“My main goal was to win sprints and flags at the championships, and I did. The result I was really stoked with was finishing third in the Mali board event. I hadn’t had much time to train for that event, so I’m extremely happy with the results overall. The Umhlanga Rocks Surf Lifesaving Club team did extremely well at the event and I was glad I was able to contribute to that,” he said.

Another contributor to the medal tally was Mount Moreland resident and nipper, Gal Marks.

“This was my third nippers and it was an extremely competitive champs. I competed in the U13 category and won gold for the super nipper, silver in the 50m mannequin rescue, silver in the rescue medley, silver in the 50m mannequin rescue with fins and the 100m rescue medley. I won bronze in the 100m obstacle course. I was pleased with my performances but, like everyone has remarked, as a team, we were exceptional and it was great to be part of that,” Marks said.

In the Masters event, the 57-year-old Carryl van Bassen surpassed all of her expectations and won several gold medals and broke five South African records in the stillwater events.

“I haven’t competed in lifesaving for 35 years and this was supposed to be a marker for me to see where I am competitively. As a senior, I had my South African colours, so to come back and do this was just phenomenal. My performances have given me the confidence to compete at next year’s World Masters Games in Japan. For me, it’s worth a go and I’m really looking forward to it,” she said.

Speaking on the Rox team’s performances, van Bassen said, “I’ve belonged to many clubs in my life and the support you get from Rox members is on another level. Though I’ve only been with the club for one year, they support and encourage you, which is why the club has produced so many SA champs,” she said.