Skin swimmers vie for top spot in competition

Ryan Stramrood and Michelle Weber are ambassadors of the Waterfront Canal Challenge.

Elite skin swimmers will battle each other for one mile to win the Theodore Yach Elite Mile Trophy on Saturday October 19.

This was confirmed at the Waterfront Rotary Club’s launch of the second Waterfront Canal Challenge on Friday August 2.

The Waterfront Canal Challenge offers categories for both wetsuit and skin swimmers of all ages.

Their first event saw 250 swimmers diving into the chilly waters including the open water swimmer Michelle Weber and the late Robben Island crossing vetaran, Theodare Yach.

In honour of Mr Yach, the top athletes will compete in an invitation only Elite 1-mile. Mr Yach was the Waterfront Canal Challenge’s ambassador last year. This year ultra-extreme open water and ice swimmer, Ryan Stramrood, and Ms Weber will be ambassadors.

The event aims to raise awareness around plastic pollution and how the public can assist in turning the tide on single-use plastics one wave at a time.

An art from trash competition will be open to primary and high schools. The club stated that the initiative was yet another way for families to enjoy the day out.

The president of the Rotary Club, Derek Pead, said they received such fantastic feedback from the swimming community on their first event that took place last year that hosting the second canal challenge was an easy decision.

He said the club was looking forward to another successful year.

“We hope to raise some substantial funding for the Waterfront Rotary Club projects which include the upgrade of 40 Early Childhood Development (ECD) centres in Langa, libraries in various schools across the city, our entrepreneurship and mentoring programme and our youth projects,” he said.