The Midmar Mile is a swimming race held annually in February at the
Midmar Dam north of
Pietermaritzburg
Pietermaritzburg (; ) is the capital and second-largest city in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa after Durban. It was named in 1838 and is currently governed by the Msunduzi Local Municipality. The town was named in Zulu after King ...
,
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...
. Each year, it draws thousands of competitors, from serious international athletes and
Olympic medallists
to purely recreational swimmers. The inaugural Midmar Mile was held in 1974.
["Meet 'Buthie' (87), The Only Person To Have Officially Swum Every Midmar Mile"](_blank)
'' Eyewitness News''. 28 January 2020. Retrieved 28 February 2022.
In 2009 the event, in which 13 755 competitors finished the race, was recognised by the
Guinness Book of World Records
''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a British reference book published annually, listi ...
as the world's largest open water
swimming
Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, such as saltwater or freshwater environments, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Swimmers achieve locomotion by coordinating limb and body movements to achieve hydrody ...
event.
The event gains its name from the location ( Midmar Dam) and the distance (roughly ). A unique feature of the race is that while the distance covered is always a mile, depending on rainfall and the water levels in the dam, the distance swum varies from year to year. In years with poor rainfall, competitors are subject to the infamous Midmar sprint start: a bedlam of bodies sprinting across the muddy lake-shore and through the shallows until the water is deep enough to swim.
In order to handle the vast number of competitors, the swimmers swim out in 5 groups at three-minute intervals in 8 separate mile races over two days; the group division the swimmer is assigned to is based on a qualifying time in a previous (qualifying) event, with the fastest group leaving first.
See also
* Midmar Dam
* Sport in South Africa
* List of swimming competitions
References
External links
Official website
Open water swimming competitions
Swimming competitions in South Africa
February in sports
1974 establishments in South Africa
Recurring sporting events established in 1974
{{SouthAfrica-sport-stub