Format: 1 mile River Swim
Date: Saturday 14th August
Time: 11h00
Start: Palmiet River Bridge
Finish: Festival Hub, Palmiet Caravan Park
Cost: R60

Event sponsored by:

The River Swim, now in its fourth year, is set to take off after small beginnings. This unique event takes the format of a mile long swim and puts it into a river environment, including rapids and currents which make for a great x-factor and tactics to put an extra spin on things. Swimmers start under the main road bridge and negotiate some rapids initially and then enter the Palmiet Estuary for an open water swim, finishing at the Festival Hub right at the mouth of the river. Note: the mid-winter water is icy cold so an outer layer is strongly recommended.

The swim event is sponsored by Cadiz Financial Strategy Group. Cadiz’ involvement with long distance open water swimming has been spearheaded by Ram Barkai, who will hopefully be in the field this year. Barkai is not a stranger to challenging swims. He has completed the Robben Island crossing four times, a 20km crossing of the Sea of Galilee and was part of a six man relay team that swam the 1900km length of the Orange River. At 70 degrees latitude, Barkai’s Antartctic swim is considered the most southerly swim in the world.

Event map: