MARDON CLAIMS HER 3RD CONSECUTIVE BELLBUOY TITLE

Local swimmer Amy Mardon crosses the line to claim her 3rd consective ladies wetsuit title on Saturday morning.

The 2016 Jendamark Bellbuoy Challenge lived up to its reputation as the toughest 5km  Indian Ocean Swim on Saturday morning when a record breaking 108 of the 128 entrants completed the swim at Pollok Beach, Port Elizabeth.

With flat seas and a moderate Westerly off-shore wind the swimmers got off to a flying start and would have been forgiven for thinging this was going to be an easy swim. Once the swimmers neared the Bellbuoy some 2.5km directly out to sea they encountered a strong cross rip current which made the rounding of the buoy extremely difficult. Then with an outgoing tide and increasing head wind, the return became difficult with the final swimmer taking more than 3 hours 20 minutes.

For Port Elizabeth's top open water swimmers it was business as usual as they capitalised on the Eastern Cape's richest open water swimming event with 17 year old Amy Mardon winning her 3rd consecutive ladies wetsuit tile whilst Ian Venter (Men's wetsuit) and Hannah Haswell (ladies swimsuit) both successfully defended their titles. Daniel Jones rounded off a fantastic week by adding the Bellbuoy title to his double mile and Mile titles at last week's SPAR River Mile.

"Going out was nice but coming back was so tough with the wind and the rips." said newly crowned champion Jones. 

Age group trophys for the fastest swimmers irrespective of category were handed out after the event with Haswell and Venter winning the 18 and under age group, Wayne Jones and Kirstin Marriott won the 19 to 39 years age group whilst Pretoria swimming couple Gary and Megan Albertyn won the 40 to 49 years age group. Triple Springbok sportsman Kevin Richards and East London's Nicolette van Nierop won the 50 to 50 years age group with Conal Turner and Sharon Ball winning the 60 years and over age group. 61 year old Gaunteng swimmer Ball became the oldest female bellbuoy swimmer to have finished the event when she completed Saturday's swim in 3 hours and 7 min.

"Today was another awesome swimming event showcasing Nelson Mandela Bay and with swimmers from around the country taking part and being impressed by this event we look forward to continued growth going forward, boosted by our naming sponsor Jendamark who recently agreed a 5-year sponsorship." said race director Michael Zoetmulder after the race. "To have a race of this stature backed by Jendamark, one of our local award winning companies and Caltex Eastern Cape speaks volumes for open water swimming in these parts." 

Full results from the event are available on www.bellbuoychallenge.co.za