Wot a splash

KNYSNA SPORT NEWS - The eighth edition of the annual Knysna Splash Festival, held at the Knysna Yacht Club on 28 December 2019, has been labelled a massive success after the number of participants doubled from the previous year's event.

Every year, without fail for the past eight years, the Knysna Rotary Club has rounded out its year with the Knysna Splash Festival.

The festival is a means for the organisation to further its already immense charity work by contributing funds to its Safe Swimming project which is aimed at teaching underprivileged children how to swim.

The Splash Festival typically comprises of two events – the Lagoon Mile Swim and the Duck Race – with the former typically the first on the programme.

The 2019 event was no different, as nearly 300 participants waited with bated breath for the announcer to set them off to take part in either the 450m or 1.65km races. The shorter race is aimed at younger swimmers, children 10 and under in particular. Anyone over 10 was welcome to participate in the shorter race, but they were not eligible for a prize.

Photo gallery: The splash dash

The short race was won by Coel Trollip and Samuel Mocke who clocked the same time of 07:25, but Coel was not eligible for a prize as he is over 10. The first junior girl to cross the finish line was Sasha Corrkan with a time of 08:24.

In the long race, the course went around the yacht club, turned right into the small harbour, went under the bridge, around the Quays island and back along the same route in reverse to the finish at the Hobie slipway. Swimmers enjoyed a slightly easier first half of the race with the wind at their backs, but the second half was undoubtedly the toughest part of the race with the swimmers fighting against the wind. The low tide at the time further hampered their efforts.

Despite this, Henre Louw conquered the difficult conditions to finish first with a time of 18:36, while Dune Coetzeewas the first woman home in a time of 20:28.

Race organiser Andrew Finn was chuffed with the turnout this year. "The turnout – swimmers and spectators alike – was amazing, we doubled the number of entrants from the year before (2018)," Finn said.

He also touched on the possibility of some changes to the course this year. "We are looking at making the race more spectator-friendly, and this could see some changes to the course."

Trevor Austin looked a bit knackered after his swim.