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Pietermaritzburg - Local swimmer Chad Ho lived up to his own expectations at the 38th aQuelle Midmar Mile when he successfully defended his title on Sunday in the men's open event against some formidable opposition which included Britain's David Davies, the only swimmer to have medaled in both pool and open water world events.
The women's open event went according to plan for top UK open water swimmer, Keri-Anne Payne, who tore through the 1600m race to win by the proverbial mile in a time of 18:51 from her teammates Cassandra Patten (19:28) and Charlotte Woolliscroft (19:34) with Michelle Weber (19:42) the first South African to cross the line in fourth place.
Swimming in ideal conditions at the popular Midlands lake resort, around 8000 swimmers had signed up for the world's largest open water swim event with a new claim for the most finishers expected to go to the Guinness Book of Records.
Ho got off to a slow start and was led to the 400m buoys by Cape Town's Heerden Herman in 4:55 with the British swimmers off to the right led by Davies and Alfie Howes.
Ho and Heerden went stroke for stroke for the next 400m which they passed through in 9:38 but Ho immediately stepped up the pace to surge away from his challengers and was 12 seconds ahead of Davies and company at the 1200m mark.
Ho's winning time of 18:27 was three seconds faster than his 2010 time with Davies second (18:38) and Howes third (18:47). Herman finished in 18:51 for fourth place.
" Apart from the slow start I got I was quite satisfied with my performance and achieved what I set out to do and that was to make it two wins in a row," said Ho.
Payne's win brought her total of wins in the open women's category to a record-equaling six, a feat achieved by Natasha Figg with successive victories between 1990-1995.
"It's always very special for me to return to Midmar as I am Johannesburg-born and a South African at heart," said Payne.
