A GROUP of Namibian Masters swimmers won five gold, five silver and eight bronze medals at the South African Masters Swimming Championships which recently took place in Port Elizabeth.
More than 200 masters swimmers competed in the championships, with most coming from South Africa, while there were also swimmers from Botswana, the United Kingdom, Germany and Spain.
The most notable performances by the Namibian swimmers were in the women’s 60-64 age group, where Cheryl Young set a new South African record of 3:05,5 in the 200m individual medley, while she also won gold in the 400m individual medley and the 800m freestyle.
Paddy Murphy (57) won a gold medal in the 800m freestyle in 11:18,8 and a silver medal in the 3km Open Water race in 41;16,3.
In the women’s 50-54 year old age group, Jane Samson won gold in the 100m breaststroke with a time of 1:35,4, but she had to settle for silver in the 50m breaststroke where she missed out on the gold medal by a split second.
Zoë Mitchell (52) won a silver medal in the 3km Open Water swim and two bronze medals in the 800m and 200m freestyle events.
The team’s ‘relay specialist’, Carl Brinkmann (56) was unstoppable in both the 50m mixed medley relay and in the 50m mixed freestyle relay. He also finished fourth in both the individual 50m butterfly and the 100m freestyle events.
Gábor Salamon (62) established four personal best times out of six events that he competed in. This included a bronze medal in the 400m freestyle and a fourth place in the 50m butterfly.
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