Friends, in February 2019 at the world’s largest Open Water swimming event, The Midmar Mile, I will be swimming all 8 events as part of the 8-Mile Club. The 8-Mile Club each year raises a significant amount (in 2018: R3.5Million) for a variety of deserving charities. These charities are both small and large and include a diverse selection from sea rescue, to wildlife, to cancer and disabilities.

This year please help me raise funds for Wildlands - a wonderful charity that supports conservation (including rhino conservation), rural community development and food security projects across much of South Africa.

As many of you know, swimming has become an unexpected passion of mine over the past three years. Whilst I have always a fondness of open water, it has now reached an obsession. It has delivered challenges both physical and mental that I once believed insurmountable. It has provided an environment that nourishes the soul and soothes the body. The perpetual benevolence of the water has me returning as often as I can. 

Never to be one to shy away from a challenge, I have also given myself just a month to prepare for the event after six weeks out of the water recovering from a back operation.