Some simple life lessons learnt from 50 Midmar Miles: A Dam Fine Feat

I’m so chuffed for my mate and his incredible achievement.. completing his 50th consecutive Midmar Mile Swim on the occasion of the 50th Midmar Mile 2023 – World’s Largest Open Water Swim:

When the Covid 19 pandemic forced us all into lockdown, it allowed me the time to pen some further articles about my memories of participating in the Comrades Marathon & Dusi Canoe Marathon.. and to propose some life lessons in them:

• COMRADES Marathon: Metaphor For The Marathon Of Life

Extract: 'The greatest long-distance marathon in the world, billed today as - The Ultimate Human Race - provides some excellent clues to meeting life’s challenges.'

• Riding the wild, wild River Of Life

Extract: 'Was recently sharing the funny story of the day my canoeing partner and I got front page news coverage for having crossed the finish line first in a leading pre-Dusi Canoe Marathon warm-up: The 2-Day Umgeni 50-Miler – almost an hour ahead of the top canoeists in the country.'?

• Life Lessons Learnt as a Dusi Rat

Extract: 'If the Comrades Marathon is billed as ‘The Ultimate Human Race’, then what title should we give to its dangerously fickle cousin of 120km?? Dear Dusi, I hereby crown you – The Ultimate Inhuman Race; or The Ultimate Human Folly; or the Greatest River Race of All.'

Having just completed the 50th Midmar Mile (2023), 50 years after having swum the inaugural Midmar Mile back in 1974, it’s the perfect time to complete a trilogy of life-lesson observations from participating in these three world-famous events.

For those who want to skip the pictorial backstory to our participating in this 50th Midmar Mile event, here is a summary list of the first set of life lessons offered (with further explanation to each at the bottom of this article).

1. Make things happen.
2. Everyone has their own priorities.
3. Everyone has their own perspective.
4. Everyone has their own unique backstory/ies.
5. Everyone has more than their fair share of trials & tribulations.
6. Everything is relative.
7. Train at your own pace to suit your race.
8. Keep moving forward.

Background: The 50th Midmar Mile (2023) came onto my radar sometime early in November 2022 with the forwarding of this article & picture from Perth:

1974 champion to compete in 50th anniversary of aQuellé Midmar Mile

Extract: 'The first ever winner of the aQuellé Midmar Mile, Trevor Strydom, has confirmed he will participate in the 50th anniversary of the event from 9-12 February 2023.'

'Strydom powered to victory in the first ever event at the KwaZulu-Natal dam back in 1974 in a time of 23 minutes 54 seconds. He was an age group provincial water polo player and Iron Man competitor back then but didn’t expect he’d go down in history as the first winner of what was to grow into the world’s largest open water swimming event.'

'Pictured here:?Trevor Strydom (right) & Jake Kneebone - recent photo taken in Perth. Trevor holding his trophy from the Inaugural Midmar Mile race & Jake is holding the 1974 team trophy from that first Midmar Mile race which was won by their team from the Lahee Park Otters Club (aka Pinetown Otters Club). “We had some incredible swimmers like Chris Morris, Martin Jollands, Dave Jollands, Steve Johnston & Trevor Nel,” said Strydom.'

Some history: 50 years ago - 1974 - Pinetown Otters Water Polo Club was making waves as an up-and-coming club water-polo force in South Africa. Jake Kneebone (then Springbok captain) had recently relocated to our part of the world, and Trevor Strydom was one of our dynamic young crop of juniors.

Most of the players in the pics below (note Mike Pengelly on the club committee) were at Midmar Dam for the inaugural Midmar Mile (February 1974) where Trevor Strydom won the race & Pinetown Otters won the team event. Most were already representing provincial and/or national schools, university, and senior national water-polo sides.. and were consequently super-fit swimmers.

Words that reflected the spirit & life-long appreciation of past friendships and memories for all attending the 50th Midmar Mile event.. and those who could not attend or departed - from Jake Kneebone: 'I have such wonderful memories of the good old days. Emil and the Pinetown club members made me very welcome when I joined the club. So I just want to give something back to show my appreciation. I thought the least I could do is shout a few rounds for the boys. I would just like the boys to know that my time with them was a very important time in my life, and I will always appreciate their friendship.'

Back to the present: 50 years later - 2023 - and the Midmar Mile organizers had extended VIP-treatment invitations to a veteran squad of water-polo players and Seals Iron Man contemporaries who had signaled their intent to join Mike Pengelly on his record-setting 50th consecutive Midmar Mile swim.

Early morning on Saturday 11th February 2023 saw the veteran squad gathering from all corners of the globe:

To be welcomed by this inviting picture-perfect smooth-as-glass view from the VIP tent at the finish to the white tents across the dam at the start of the 1.6km Midmar Mile swim:

To cut a long story short.. we all made it across and received our 50th Midmar Mile medals:

Mike Pengelly receiving a further Olympic-size medal (to the right of the medal that we all received - actual size) for being first to complete 50 consecutive Midmar Mile swims.

Lot's of fun had during media interviews in the VIP tent after the event (a big thank you to the organizers & sponsors for never-ending eats & drinks for our entire squad and partners):

Posted Mike Pengelly on whatsapp later: 'To the Pinetown Otters Originals and all my water polo friends , sincere thanks for all your support and kind words . It was a privilege swimming with you all. Reuniting with old mates , especially Trevor Strydom , was special. Thanks to TN for organizing . Was an awesome, memorable weekend for sure . Look forward to sharing at the next Steak and Ale lunch.'

Media took the opportunity for a call-back-the-past photo-op with the first three Seals Iron Man award numbers awarded in perpetuity back in the late 80s for completing 10 Comrades; 10 Dusi Canoe Marathons; & 10 Midmar Mile swims (each in the same year for 10 years). All from Pinetown: No.1 - Mike Pengelly; No.2 - Trevor Nel; No.3 - Graham Wilson. No.4 - Tony Sinclair was already on his way to catch an international flight back overseas.

Mike Pengelly interview:

Also in attendance in the VIP-tent were late-70s Pinetown Otters water-polo juniors, and later Springbok & World-Champion lifesavers, paddle-skiers, and canoeists - Oscar Chalupsky & Herman Chalupsky - at Midmar to promote Oscar's book: No Retreat, No Surrender - The inspiring story of a world-champion sportsman and cancer warrior.

Was pleased to receive the lovely signed copy and kind words below from Oscar:

Also in the VIP tent, regaling us with memories from the old days, was veteran W/Polo Ballie & Springbok lifesaver - Paul Lanterme (80 years young).. looking great and just as feisty as ever:

So, as promised, some simple life lessons that I take from returning to the Midmar Mile 50 years after participating in the inaugural event:

1. Make things happen. On 11/27/2022 I posted this whatsapp note to our water-polo & rugby old-ballie networks: ‘Midmar Mile 50th anniversary coming up.. coupla Joburg ex-Pinetown wpolo ballies boys who were there at the inaugural event are thinking of making a comeback ?? ..are there any planned team get-togethers (any of the inaugural teams) or recommended events we should be looking at to enter.. I know Mike Pengelly @Mike Pen is on for his 50th event - never missed one - INCREDIBLE.'?
2. Everyone has their own priorities. I tried hard to connect with the organizers in early November who clearly had their own priorities to bring out as many past winners in the previous 50 years as they could. Plus, they were busy organizing the impressive logistics behind the world's largest open water swim. As frustrated as I was with not getting immediate early responses that I wanted to meet my priorities, I tempered my frustration with the understanding that they had major priorities of their own in organizing this mega-event.
3. Everyone has their own perspective. To me, it seemed as though the organizers were initially caught by surprise by our interest (as original inaugural event swimmers from 50 years ago) to accompany Mike Pengelly on his 50th Midmar Mile swim. To their credit, they more than made up for my early frustrations by their VIP treatment of our veteran squad.
4. Everyone has their own unique backstory/ies. Catching up with everybody in the VIP tent led to incredible revelations of unique personal stories unknown to most.
5. Everyone has more than their fair share of trials & tribulations. It was clear that no one was immune to hardships of one kind or another over the past 50 years.
6. Everything is relative. I was struck by the fact that 50 years ago we were young, fit & invincible - the Midmar Mile to us then was a piece of cake and didn't seem much of a challenge. 50 years later, and I got a rude shock at how much of a challenge it presented to some of us on the cusp of 70, to Mike Pengelly at 76, and to his brother-in-law & past-Springbok lifesaver at 80.. both of whom did it with relative ease at a comfortable pace, compared to me. It was even more humbling to realize we were being passed by severely-disabled swimmers who relished the opportunity to take on the challenge. None more so than this emotional interview by Chad Gifford - who is still adjusting to the loss of his legs over 20 years ago. Read his story here.

7. Train at your own pace to suit your race. For the past three/four decades (after retiring from water-polo) I have kept myself reasonably swimming fit doing 3 to 4 swim sessions per week of 20 to 40 X 25 metre ( lap 'sprints' 12 to 15 seconds) in a Virgin Active pool. Not bad for a veteran on the cusp of 70. I got a shock when invited to swim in the Primeview (Centurion) 1.2 km open water swim just 3 weeks before the Midmar Mile event. I could not breathe after just a couple of hundred metres and had to bale into the rubber-duckie before I drowned! I was rudely reminded that you can't run a Comrades marathon on 100m sprint training. I immediately returned to the gym to slow my pace down by 80% and increase my distance to 100 X 25 non-stop laps. To get my breath back I had to regularly switch to kicking-only on my back and alternate that with a slow breaststroke. That is what I used to slip in under the cut-off time to finish the 50th Midmar Mile. Humbling.. and yet, mission accomplished.

8. Keep moving forward. I shared this at the beginning of the year as 'my personal mantra for 2023 - conceptualized while preparing for the 50th Midmar Mile Swim (11 Feb 2023)'. As synchronicity will have it, the motto etched on to the back of the 50th Midmar Mile medal reads: Just Keep Swimming.

Please share any life-lesson observations you may have noted from this article in the comments section.

Trevor Nel?is author of?One Idea Is All It Takes ?and numerous publications & articles, including :

• The WISDOMS? Manifesto
• Make A Difference. Crack The Code. New. Unique. Rare. Be No.1 In YOUR City.

1. Another GREAT Day in Africa!
2. Confessions of a SERIAL Entrepreneur
3. Here's How To Be Well-Prepared For YOUR Cycles Of Success
4. Here's How YOU Can Make A Meaningful Difference In Other People's Lives
5. COMRADES Marathon: Metaphor For The Marathon Of Life
6. Riding the wild, wild River Of Life
7. Life Lessons Learnt as a Dusi Rat