Connor Buck and Sharon van Rouwendaal win Midmar Mile titles

Rising open water star Connor Buck completely dominated the elite men’s race, leading the South African charge yesterday, while Dutch swimmer Sharon van Rouwendaal lived up to the hype by winning a hard-fought women’s race at the 50th edition of the annual Midmar Mile in the KZN Midlands.

Buck successfully defended the title he won last year, covering the full distance across Midmar Dam in 17 minutes, 39 seconds (17:39).

Convincing victory

The 20-year-old prospect had no trouble against a large field of local contenders, with 21-year-old Henre Louw taking second place nearly a minute off the pace in 18:34.

Brendan Visser, who is based in Durban, held on to grab third position in 18:50.

Van Rouwendaal, meanwhile, was made to work for it, but the world 10km marathon champion managed to secure a narrow victory.

The Dutch swimmer, a former Olympic champion over the 10km distance, completed the race in 18:40.

She held off a challenge from American opponent Ashley Twitchell who ended second in 18:44.

Last year’s winner, Stephanie Houtman, settled for third place in 19:29.

Evergreen Pengelly

Earlier, on Saturday’s penultimate day of competition at the world’s largest open-water swim, Mike Pengelly was lauded for his efforts after finishing the Midmar Mile for the 50th time. The 76-year-old veteran has swum every edition of the event.

“I had a lot of help from my Pinetown Otters water polo friends. I generally pull to the left, so I had one friend on the left and one on the right, so I actually swam very straight today for a change. I normally zigzag all over the place so it was really nice,” Pengelly said.

The first disabled swimmer to reach the finish on Saturday was two-time Paralympian Alani Ferreira, who clocked a personal best time of 23:09 for victory in the visually impaired category, along with training partner and guide Emily Martens.