Callan Lötter and Matthew Caldwell were both crowned champions of the aQuellé Midmar Mile for the first time after two very different races on Sunday.
While Lötter took the direct route, dominating the elite women’s race, Caldwell’s strategy to swim a wide line out to the right of the rest of the field in the men’s race raised some questions but ultimately paid off.
The Johannesburg swimmer had boldly predicted that the top three in this year’s men’s race would be himself, fellow South African Henré Louw and visiting Frenchman and three-time Olympian Damien Joly. And the trio did indeed take to the front early, joined by Connor Albertyn. But Caldwell made the decision to swim wide to avoid the pack, leaving the other three to fight it out. With Joly unsure whether he had to swim under the hotspot markers or not, he changed his own line several times and it cost him, leaving Caldwell, Louw and Albertyn to battle for the top three spots.
Caldwell’s angle worked in his favour and he took the win in 18 minutes 32 seconds with Louw second in 18:42 and Albertyn third in 18:44. Joly was fourth, a further seven seconds back.
“I just needed to be as wide as possible, not close to anyone. I just didn’t want to be in sight. I wanted to be like an invisible person swimming there. So the plan was just swim my own race in clean water,” Caldwell explained of his tactics.
“It’s lovely. I’ve been wanting this for a few years now… Henré, myself and Connor on the podium, that’s perfect, that’s how it should be – South Africa on top.”
Meanwhile, in the women’s race, Lötter mastered the rough conditions perfectly and made her move early. She was already well out in front by the 400m mark and continued to stretch the gap to the chasing pack. By halfway, the 19-year-old was 12 seconds in front and she had extended that lead to 19 seconds by the final marker at 1200m. She eventually reached the finish in 19 minutes 51 with the battle for second and third heating up behind her.
It was 2022 champion Stephanie Houtman who secured second spot in 20:02 with fellow Pretoria swimmer Carli Antonopoulos third in 20:07. The trio were over a minute clear of the next swimmers.
“My plan was to go out comfortable and see where the rest of the people were, and if they went out fast, I would try and stay with them. And then my plan was only to start building from 400m onwards,” said Lötter afterwards.
“It feels really good. It just shows that my training has been working and I’m really happy with how I performed today,” she added, paying tribute to her coach, Troyden Prinsloo.
“Troy has helped me a lot and given me the confidence and made me enjoy the sport again.”
While the elite swimmers celebrated their victories, there were numerous other incredible feats of endurance achieved on Sunday. Both Reino von Wielligh and Gary Albertyn completed their gruelling mission of swimming 32 miles over the four days of the aQuellé Midmar Mile, while also securing impressive victories in their age groups (Von Wielligh in the 31-40 age group in 20:58 and Albertyn in the 51-60 age group in 21:18) on their 30th miles.
“It's something I wanted to do because of my age, 32, 32 miles, raise R32,000 [for charity]… I think it was very symbolic,” said Von Wielligh. “So I don't think it's something that I'll do every single year. I'll go back and do the 16, but I really hope that in these 32 miles that I did get the word out about [children’s cancer charity] Happy Bundles and what they do and the NCPD [National Council of and for Persons with Disabilities] and hopefully people start looking into them and support those charities at the end of the day.”
Also among those reaching the finish on Sunday were several former winners, including men’s record holder and seven-time champion Chad Ho, and 1997 winner Robyn Bradley (now Minogue) who had returned to the aQuellé Midmar Mile for the first time since that victory and finished fourth in her age category.
“It’s a phenomenal swim – just the organisation and how it’s put together. It’s just incredible,” she said of being back at Midmar after living in Australia for the last 30 years.
Top 10 results
Elite women:
Callan Lötter – 19:51
Stephanie Houtman – 20:02
Carli Antonopoulos – 20:07
Kirsty Andraos – 21:12
Kiara Banks – 21:14
Sasha-Lee Hemmens – 21:15
Zuria Venter – 21:15
Samantha Randle – 21:42
Megan Shepherd – 21:47
Leah Markgraaff – 21:51
Elite men:
Matthew Caldwell – 18:32
Henré Louw – 18:42
Connor Albertyn – 18:44
Damien Joly – 18:51
Sven van der Linde – 19:27
Wian Bartleman – 19:42
Carter Markgraaff – 19:45
James Kewley – 19:47
Luan Terblanche – 19:52
Shane van der Linde – 19:56
For full results, head to: www.finishtime.co.za
Top: Callan Lötter
Below L-R: Matthew Caldwell, Louw (L), Caldwell and Albertyn and Callan Lötter
