Courtesy of Brenton Williams, Marina Mile Swimming Festival, South Africa.

14-year-old Henre Louw from Pretoria was untouchable at the 2016 Marina Mile Swimming Festival at Marina Martinique near Jeffreys Bay in South Africa.

He had previously won the shorter events at the Marina Mile, but the young phenom is now coming into his own in the annual event organized by Brenton Williams annually in December. He won both the mile and double mile races with over 200 swimmers taking part.

Louw won the double mile swim in a fast time of 38 minutes with Stellenbosch teenager Stephano Roodt in second and Port Elizabeth’s Brandon Chapman in third. Louw’s Pretorian Duné Coetzee won the ladies double mile over Hannah Haswell and Ashleigh Green.

Veteran Kevin Richards was the first masters swimmer home, finishing in fifth position in 40 minutes while Jeffreys Bay swimmer JC Van Wyk finished in 46:09.

Pretoria went 1-2-3 in the 500m race with 11-year-old Lise Coetzee winning over Samantha Varrie and Teegan Pio. Meanwhile, Thomas Varrie was first on the men’s side beating Heath Broughton and Gabriel Varrie respectively.

Timothy Barnes won the bank-to-bank swim with Kobus Strydom from Jeffreys Bay coming in second and Keenan Van Loggerenberg in third. Sophie Bohr won the girls bank-to-bank race with Jeffreys Bay swimmers Tiani Strydom and Genivieve Joubert coming in second and third.

The feature event of the morning was the Mile race which Louw won in 18 minutes 14 seconds, ahead of Port Elizabeth swimmer Cullen Biddulph and East London’s Deshaan Pillay. St Francis Bay swimmer Amica De Jager won the Ladies Mile over Duné Coetzee and Hannah Haswell.

Jeffreys Bay swimmer Seth de Swart finished in fourth position after a great tussle over the last 500 meters of the Marina Mile, presented by Nicholas Melck Properties. Local swimmers 11-year-old MC Van Wyk and 10-year-old Noah de Swart had a great battle to end up as the youngest highest placed swimmers finishing in 28th and 29th respectively.

The Marina Mile was supported by Nicholas Melck Properties, Oakley Sunglasses, Woodlands Diary and Aquella. The 2017 Marina Mile is set to take place on December 30th.

Marina Mile Top 25 Results:
1 Henre Louw (age 14) 18:14.5 [shown on upper photo]
2 Cullen Biddulph (14) 18:47.5
3 Deshaan Pillay (19 18:47.5
4 Seth De Swardt (17) 18:57.2
5 Amica De Jager (17) 18:57.2 – First Female
6 Duné Coetzee (14) 19:07.0 – Second Female
7 Ruben Smith (15) 19:39.5
8 Brandon Chapman (14) 19:48.8
9 John-pierre Weideman (15) 19:57.0
10 Kevin Richards (52) 20:16.5
11 Hannah Haswell (16) 20:49.8 – Third Female
12 Matteo Greyling (16) 20:54.0
13 Jessica Booth (14) 20:56.3 – Fourth Female
14 Teagan Strydom (15) 20:58.2
15 Marcell Muller (15) 21:08.8
16 Rushen Pillay (14) 21:32.8
17 Wian Serfontein (13) 21:34.8
18 Mark Muller (15) 21:42.5
19 Hannah Counihan (14) 21:48.2 – Fifth Female
20 Jenna Biddulph (12) 21:50.8 – Sixth Female
21 Dominic Varrie (18) 22:15.0
22 Chane De Jager (21) 22:19.8 – Seventh Female
23 Yanah Gerber (15) 22:19.8 – Eighth Female
24 Meagan Horton (13) 23:01.8 – Ninth Female
25 Phillip De Waal (28) 23:06.0

Marina Double Mile
1 Henre Louw (14) 38:00.1
2 Stephano Roodt (19) 38:40.3
3 Duné Coetzee (14) 40:09.6 – First Female
4 Brandon Chapman (14) 40:19.3
5 Kevin Richards (52) 40:44.1
6 Hannah Haswell (16) 43:39.5 – Second Female
7 Ashleigh Green (16) 43:42.8 – Third Female
8 James Griffiths (13) 45:05.6
9 Michell Strydom (15) 45:57.6 – Fourth Female
10 J C Van Wyk (50) 46:09.3
11 Martin Wolmarans (14) 47:43.3
12 Shaelyn Walker (13) 47:47.0 – Fifth Female
13 Tyra Roozendaal (14) 47:49.3 – Sixth Female
14 Paige Brombacher (13) 47:52.8 – Seventh Female
15 Gabriel Kriel (29) 51:03.8
16 Keana Pearce (12) 51:15.0 – Eighth Female
17 Tom Collins (49) 56:38.3
18 Jurie Van Dyk (40) 56:55.0
19 Stanford Slabbert (58) 57:49.3
20 Ronnie Olivier (28) 58:24.8
21 Lisa Matthews (26) 59:26.8 – Ninth Female
22 Chrisma Rautenbach (34) 1:01:41.0 – Tenth Female
23 Nina Petra Bodisch (47) 1:02:25.6 – Eleventh Female
24 Odelia Roodt (25) 1:02:47.6 – Twelfth Female
25 Frances Brombacher (13) 1:09:33.6 – Thirteenth Female

500m Swim Top 5 Results:
1 Lise Coetzee (11) 7:50.3 – First Female
2 Samantha Varrie (13) 8:18.9 – Second Female
3 Thomas Varrie (15) 8:27.3
4 Heath Broughton (10) 8:41.3
5 Gabriel Varrie (15) 8:50.6

Kids Bank-to-Bank Top 5 Results: 1 Timothy Barnes (11) 0:00.5
2 Sophie Bohr (9) 0:11.2 – First Female
3 Kobus Strydom (8) 0:15.2
4 Keenan Van Loggerenberg (11) 0:18.0
5 Alex Varrie (10) 0:21.5

Full results are available at www.zsports.co.za/marinamile.

Copyright © 2016 by World Open Water Swimming Association