Swimming with a purpose lead to great rewards for a local teen.
Samuel Smith recently took part in the Midmar Mile and there he managed to raise just over R16 000 for the Chad Le Clos Foundation.
This was Smith’s fifth time taking part in the race, his first being when he was 11 years old. He even did one of them ‘virtually’ during Covid-19 restrictions.
To prepare for the race, he has been training with Jozi Aquatics for about six years and through them, he takes part in swim camps during January that have him swim up to 10kms a day.
What he loved most about race day was the weather, “I love swimming in the cold as well as the feeling of swimming and exercising in the open water,” he said. It was important to him to raise funds for this specific organisation as for him, it is the best thing you one can do is something you love while also helping someone else. The money he raised will go towards swimming safety programmes.
Although, during the tail end of this race, his shoulders started to hurt and his wrist was sore Smith still believes this an awesome race to be a part of and he hopes his participation inspires others. “It was such a sense of achievement. I have trained hard for a long time, and I hope this encourages other people to do what they love while helping someone else.”
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