City to host National Swimming Championships

Limpopo Aquatics in partnership with the national swimming federation, Swimming South Africa will host the prestigious Level 2 Northern Region swimming gala in Polokwane at Polokwane municipal swimming pool from 7 to 9 April.
Rob Anderson, Vice President of Limpopo Aquatics and competition manager for provincial swimming events to whom Polokwane Observer spoke during the Provincial Swimming Championship held in Polokwane on Saturday said the Level 2 Northern Region gala is known in the swimming fraternity as a foundation gala used as a stepping stone by many aspiring swimmers.
Anderson said the cream of South African swimmers, including Chad le Clos, Cameron van der Burgh and Polokwane born Lyndon Ferns, were discovered at such events.
He explained that as a federation it was a privilege to be able to host the event as it would place Polokwane firmly on the map as far as swimming is concerned. “The event commence on 7 April and end on 9 April. We are more than pleased. We are expecting around 650 to 700 swimmers in the city, that is huge,” Anderson said.
This will be the second time the federation will play host to a national event. It also presented the South Africa National schools championships in April last year where 470 swimmers from across the country participated.
The event is expected to bring massive economic spin-offs to the province. “The province will benefit and especially Polokwane as a city. We are expecting 650 to 700 swimmers from Gauteng, Mpumalanga, North West and Limpopo. This means 650 to 700 families will be travelling to Polokwane looking for accommodation, food, entertainment, fuel etc. If we look at accommodation alone it could generate close to R2 million over the four days for local establishments,” he said.
He appealed to persons prepared to offer their expertise, time or products to assist the municipality to fix the dilapidated filtration system, shade netting and pumping system at the pool. “Unfortunately the pool in general is not in the best condition to host the event. I am not an expert but I would say we will need a few hundred Rand,” Anderson concluded.

Story and photo: Herbert Rachuene
>>herbert.observer@gmail.com