Scarlett takes on the Midmar Dam
Together with her mother, the pre-teen conquered the Pietermaritzburg waters and came out on top.
A lot of training went into 11-year-old Scarlett Ambrose taking part in her first Midmar Mile. An experience she found only one word fit to describe it – ‘incredible.’
To prepare for the race, both her parents did their part to assist her, dad would take her to the Linden Swimming Pool while mum would take her to their local gym to train in the pool. “I also did the Prime View 600m seeding swim a few weeks before the Midmar race,” said Ambrose.
One of her most challenging aspects was the length of the race as for her, it was much further than she had expected. Along with this she found the water to be quite choppy. “I swallowed water at least twice! At the start there were a lot of people that all went off together and it was a bit like a washing machine, but I had my mum swimming next to me, which helped a lot.”
Even with these challenges, Ambrose still found her entire experience to be fun. She described the race as being big, with lots of people, music playing before the race and a big frog called Frankie at the finish. Adding to the day was the joy of swimming with her mother, who she considers to be a great swimmer and made her feel safe all while encouraging her to keep going. With their aim being to finish in under an hour, the pair had made it their goal to reach each buoy in the race which varied in lengths from 400m, 800m, and 1 200m. They finished the race and made it in 53minutes. The race was such a great experience for her that she would definitely do it again next year.
Before the race, Ambrose told herself that she could do it and she did! “My mum told me before the race that if it got too hard or I found it too scary, there would be life savers there in the water if I needed to stop, but I knew I could do it. When I got to the third buoy, which is at 1 200m, I could see the tents on the shore, and tried to do as much freestyle all the way to the finish. When I got out at the finish, I was cold and tired and my legs felt like they were going to fall off, but I had done it.”
Even though she didn’t make the school’s swim team this term, she loves swimming but, if you don’t find her in the water, you will probably find her either on the cricket pitch, riding a horse, singing in the choir on stage performing or just learning how to play the guitar.
She loves that her taking part in such a race has the capability to inspire others. “My little brother, who is seven years old, saw that I could do it, so he wants to do it with my mum and I next year.”
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