NEW champions were crowned at the 95th running of The Nelson Mandela Bay River Mile held at Sundays River last Sunday, with 17-year-old Pearson scholar Slater Black and 16-year-old Collegiate scholar Jessica Booth coming out tops in the feature Mile events.
For Black it was a particularly significant win with mom, Joannie Coetzer, a former double River Mile champion having last won the race 23 years ago.
With a tough start for the swimmers in the pushing tide it was a tussle for the front runners all the way and only as they hit the riverbank at the finish line did Black take the advantage with a quick up-and-run across the line.
Just under 1 000 swimmers participated in the event which was held at Colchester.
Jessica Booth tops off a great season thus far with her maiden River Mile win, coming out of the water ahead of Hannah Counihan and Lize Muller, and ensuring her club, Infinity, retained the club trophy.
After having lost out in the last 5 years, PEA were back in winning form in the Men’s race.
The youngest swimmers in the Mile this year were Chase Jopson (6 years old) and Jenna Thorton (7 years) with the oldest being Mally Richards (86) and Margaret Skinner (74). Disabled athletes Charl Parkin and Lesley Lee successfully defended their titles in the Oracle Media Disabled Mile.
This year’s new initiative of a R10 000 prize for the school with the most entries saw Collegiate Girls Junior School winning with just 1 entrant more than Herbert Hurd and 6 more than Clarendon Park Primary.
Results are available on the River Mile website.
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ZPORTS EVENTS
