Buck and Van Rouwendaal celebrate victory after Midmar Mile battles

After putting their heads down and bashing across the dam, South Africa’s Connor Buck and Dutch world champion Sharon van Rouwendaal said they were delighted to emerge on top from challenging battles at the 50th edition of the Midmar Mile in the KZN Midlands at the weekend.

Making her debut in the world’s largest open-water swimming event, Van Rouwendaal had to work hard all the way.

Taking control

Though she dominated from the start, taking control of the race and securing victory in 18:40, the global 10km champion finished just four seconds clear of four-time Midmar Mile winner Ashley Twitchell of the United States.

Defending champion Stephanie Houtman was the first South African home, finishing third in 19:29.

READ MORE: Connor Buck and Sharon van Rouwendaal win Midmar Mile titles

“I thought I needed to get out of there and find a position in front, and then just control whether people were trying to pass or not,” said Van Rouwendaal, a former Olympic marathon champion.

“Then I think around halfway I turned on my back and I saw there was only one person, and I saw it was Ashley so I knew I had to be careful… when I saw the finish, I thought I’d build it up a little bit to get the win.”

Poor sighting

Though he had nobody on his tail when he exited the water, Buck admitted he had faced his own challenges during the 1.6km race, as he successfully retained the elite men’s crown in 17:39, just 38 seconds off the men’s record.

Pretoria’s Henré Louw was almost a minute back, finishing second in 18:34, with Buck’s 17-year-old training partner Brendan Visser springing a surprise in his Midmar Mile debut by taking third place.

“My sighting wasn’t very good. I’m a little bit colour blind so trying to see the orange buoys against the grass doesn’t really work. I had to just try and look for the white tent at the finish the whole time,” Buck said afterwards.

“Coming into the race, I wasn’t really sure what to expect. You never know what’s happening with the currents and conditions on the day.

“I was just aiming to swim as fast as I possibly could and hope for the best, so it feels good.”