Icy mile-high plunge not for faint-hearted

COLD BEAUTY: Loch Ness dam, venue for the inaugural Rhodes Mile High Open Water Mile, on March 2. Picture: SUPPLIED

EXTREME open water  swimmers are signing up  to take part in the Eastern  Cape’s first high-altitude  swim. The Rhodes Mile High Dam  Dash will be held in remote Loch  Ness dam, 2554m above sea level in  the Cape Southern Drakensberg on  March 2.
Proceeds will go to a children’s  play park at Zakhele in Rhodes Village, said organiser Roger Browne.
Ten swimmers have already entered the event, which will take  place in pristine mountain water and  sporting temperatures of between 10  and 15ºC.
This is the province’s first extreme  high-altitude race, but follows the  same idea as Rhodes professor  George Euvrard’s famous winter solstice Polar Plunge at Grey Dam in  Grahamstown.
The plunge happens precisely in  the middle of winter, and sees scores  of followers in so-called “budgie hugger” nylon costumes, baggies and  bikinis leaping into freezing cold waters while shouting “Into the light!”
Browne said he dreamed up his  event to support tourism for the  Rhodes Village, but was surprised at  how word got around and entries  flowed in.
There will also be a half mile  swim, fun relays and a tube race.
Browne said: “This unique experience will be held at extreme altitude  – where the air is clean and oxygen  thin. The scenery is rugged, with a  beauty of its own. The dam is overlooked by Ben MacDhui, the highest  point in the Eastern Cape at 3000m.”
He said the course would follow  the shape of a butterfly’s wings  around two small islands.
“Marshals/rescuers will be close at  hand. Participation in all events is at  own risk. Wetsuits may be worn.”
Accommodation is available in the  historic village of Rhodes and surrounds.
But driving there could also be an  adventure. Browne said the 60km  gravel road via Barkly East was in  good nick, but swimmers could take  more exciting less travelled roads  through Naudesnek, the highest pass  in South Africa which requires a 4×4,  or the Carlislehoek Pass which led to  the dam.
“This is possible in a car with a  good first gear and confident driver.”
However, transport to the dam  would be available from the accessible Den Hagen Farm seven kilometres out of the village.
Andrew Reeves, the chairman of  Border Masters Swimming and  Amakhosi Swimming, said the idea  was “magic”– but only after it was  explained to him that it was taking  place in the Eastern Cape and not  Scotland.
Open water swimming is on the  increase in Buffalo City Metro with  one group poised to set up as a formal club.
“There are not enough events. Everyone is looking for an open water  swim,” said Reeves.
Ben Coetzee, who used open-water  swimming to recover from Guillain- Barré syndrome said: “It sounds  nice!”
However, he had to check his calendar as it fell in the middle of the  swimming season. He said a development sea swim shortly before the  Ironman 70.3 attracted over 100  swimmers who took to heavy seas to  do the 1.9km Ironman route.
l To enter call Roger Brown on  082-358-8712, e-mail roger@rhodesretreats.co.za or visit at www.rhodesretreats.co.za and select “Rhodes Mile  High Swim” from “Upcoming  Events”. – mikel@dispatch.co.za