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Bridge House Mile

Bridge House Mile
The Bridge House Mile took place on Saturday, 12 March, at the Berg River Dam. Eight hundred swimmers took to the pristine waters in glorious weather. (Photo: Barbara Cole)

Franschhoek Hosts Africa’s Swimming Elite

Maties swimming pool deck
Maties swimming pool deck

As the most-watched sport at the Olympic Games, and one of South Africa’s top performing codes in the tally of medals, swimming gets relatively little attention from the media outside of an Olympic year.  African swimming as a whole seems to keep an even lower profile outside of the aquatics community, but the sport’s continental federation, Confédération Africaine de Natation (CANA), has been steadily building participation and development among its 54 member countries.  Egypt has a particularly strong showing in the sport, with around 175 000 registered participants – compared to 65 000 in South Africa.  The federation is headquartered in Johannesburg, and divided into four zones that include continental Africa and island nations like Madagascar, Cape Verde, Mauritius and Seychelles.

This week, Train Camp is bringing swimmers, coaches and officials from 22 of CANA countries to the Maties Swimming pool deck in Stellenbosch – which has become the premier destination for local and international aquatics training camps over the past few years.  Maties Swimming Head Coach, Cedric Finch, is excited at the prospect, saying, “We’ve hosted world champions and Olympic medallists from around the world, but to have swimmers from so many countries at one train camp is something special.  It gives a real cross-section of where African swimming is right now.”

This CANA train camp brings athletes together from as far afield as Djibouti and Tunisia, and marks the beginning of a close association between the federation and the Cape Winelands.  CANA Vice-President and Treasurer-General, Jace Naidoo, said, “Sports tourism in Africa has been focused mainly on the Western Cape, and particularly the Winelands, for quite some time – but it’s largely ad hoc and quite fragmented.  Establishing this region as our federation’s primary training camp destination will make the swimming part of that market more structured and predictable.  There are great opportunities for long term development as well, and going forward young swimmers from across the continent will come here to train, attend the local school and develop their swimming careers.  It is critically important for athletes to train in a stable environment – with strict protocols to ensure their safety, as well as access to quality education.  Stellenbosch University has understood that, and shown real vision to support the South African federation by establishing a national Centre of Excellence facility.”

Franschhoek Tourism is hosting a brief tour of the valley for officials from the camp exploring the area. Train Camp Commercial Manager, Darryn Marshall, explained, “This is a chance to introduce 22 countries – of the 54 we will be bringing to the region – to Franschhoek, and show them the high standard of infrastructure and facilities here.  As a destination, it’s among the best in the world.  It’s a great privilege that CANA has accepted our proposal to make this region the custodian of their future athlete development strategy.”  The tour will be joined by struggle icon and CANA President, Dr Sam Ramsamy, who added, “African swimming has always had to overcome preconceived ideas, but as a continent we’re beginning to claim our rightful place in the global sport.  The Winelands has world-class facilities, world-class expertise – and from here we’ll produce world-class performances.  This is just the beginning – soon the whole world will be talking about what’s coming next for sports tourism in this region.”

Text: Editorial Desk | Image: Train Camp

Pickard wins the 2022 K-Way MaxiRace Cape Winelands 120km in under 14hrs!

Lodelia Odendaal on her way to victory in the ladies 120km race.

The heat was no match for Douglas Pickard, at yesterday’s 120km 2022 K-Way MaxiRace Cape Winelands presented by Banhoek Chilli Oil in association with On Running and Yenn Health, seeing him set a strong lead from the start and finishing in a blistering time of 13hrs57min31sec. The fight for second place saw Anele Bans and leading lady, Lodelia Odendaal rallying each other for a while with Anele taking the lead and finishing 2nd in a time of 15hrs38min46 , and Lodelia taking 3rd overall and the 1st lady over the line in a time of 15hrs59min07sec.

Lions Club Bowls Day

Despite the smiles, the competition was intense at the Lions Club's Bowls Day!

The Franschhoek Lions Club held a Bowls Day at the Franschhoek Country Club on Sunday, 22 November 2020.

The three-a-side event featured twelve teams that competed on a knockout basis. Participating teams were invited to bring along their families while pizzas and a fully stocked bar was available from the Country Club. All in all it made for a fun, family-friendly day of raising funds for the Lions administration account to enable the club to plan future community projects. Some half-decent bowls were even played! The Lions Club plan to make it an annual event.

Local at the Olympics

Michelle Weber

When the Tatler learned that Franschhoek-based open water swimmer, Michelle Weber, qualified for the Olympic Games in Tokyo we just had to get in touch. We managed to have a coffee two days before she departed for Tokyo and were mightily impressed by the humble and determined athlete we met.

Training Tennis Talent

Train Camp, Franschhoek High School and Franschhoek Tennis Club have joined forces to create a tennis development programme for the school.

Training Tennis Talent

The courts of the Franschhoek Tennis Club were chock-a-block with energetic youngsters on Wednesday, 17 March. They were all there to try out ‘tennis’ for the first time.

The activities were part of the first day of the ‘Love-All, Tennis!’ development programme conceived by the tennis club and implemented in partnership with the sponsor, Train Camp, and Franschhoek High School. It all forms part of the club’s efforts to explore partnerships, grow the club and sport of tennis and to have a wider impact in the community.

Cricket: a Youth Developer

The winners (Bridge House) with the runners-up (Simondium Primary).

This year’s Under 12 Cricket Tournament at Groot Drak went off extremely well with only one out of a total of 28 games being cancelled, and that because of a day exceeding 40oC. Most of the schools showed a marked improvement in their skills and application, with all the semi-finalists playing very attractive cricket.

Six-A-Side Success

The Maties team not only emerged victorious, but also claimed most of the individual prizes.

On Sunday, 2 February 2020, Groot Drakenstein Games Club, just outside Franschhoek, held their annual ‘John Faure’ Six-A-Side tournament. The weather was glorious and the eight participating teams and spectators were treated to an array of local food and craft beer on tap while watching the cricket in one of South Africa’s most picturesque settings.

Groot Drak boasts the country’s oldest turf wicket, which played true, allowing the batsmen to score plenty of runs, with some enormous sixes being deposited to all corners of the historic ground. Celebrity players, Darren ‘Whackhead’ Simpson, Johann Louw, Frikkie Welsh, Ryan Bailey, Luther Bakkes and others treated the crowd by showing off their skills with both bat and ball.

Giordano Back on Track!

Franschhoek racing talent Giordano Lupini returns to the track at Killarney after a year away on 10 April, when he commences a come-from-behind title chase in Class B of the Cheaper Cars GTi Challenge.

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