The recent Margate Sprints, hosted by Margate Swimming Club and held at Southcity, attracted swimmers and spectators from all over despite the rain and snow around the country.
One of these was Tehl-Cadi Day-Garden, competing in the girls 15-16 age group.
Although now swimming for Action Swim Academy in Durban, she is well-known on the coast and attends Port Shepstone High, where she is in Grade 10.
What made this event significant for her was that she hadn’t trained for almost two months after the sudden death of her father, Carl, on the last day of July.
At the sprints event, gold remained elusive, but Tehl-Cadi bagged six silver medals and one bronze.
Her silver medals came in 50m butterfly, 100m breaststroke, 200m IM, 200m breaststroke, 50m freestyle and 50m breaststroke.
The one bronze was for the 100m butterfly.
She finished fourth in the other two races she swam in, 100m and 200m freestyle.
Her father had been her biggest fan and mentor, and his presence has been sorely missed.
So, while Tehl-Cadi may have been hurting over her father and disappointed not to have won a gold medal, the good news is that she’s back training full-time with the same, if not more, determination.
She’s now swimming for herself and dedicating it to Daddy.
Race times:
100m freestyle 4th
50m butterfly 2nd 33:70
100m breaststroke 2nd 1:22:72
200m IM 2nd 2:48:61
100m butterfly 3rd 1:19:10
200m breaststroke 2nd 3:03:05
200m freestyle 4th
50m freestyle 2nd 30:95
50m breaststroke 2nd 39:11
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