Winner for the 6th time, Chad Ho
(Adapted from an article by Tommy Ballyntyne: Mercury 9 February 2015)
Westville Old Boy and Olympian, Chad Ho extended his winning streak in the aQuelle Midmar Mile on Sunday 8 February when he won it for the 6th time, lowering the men’s open record set in 2004 by Prezmek Stanzcyk of Poland, by 9 seconds for new best time of 17 min 4 sec.
Two current Westville Boys’ High School pupils, Jordan le Clos and Joshua Dannhauser were also placed in the top 10.
Ho swam a brilliantly judged race, recovering quickly from having his goggles knocked off in the 30m sprint to the water’s edge to lead within the first minute.
His Action Swimming Club teammate, 16 year old Clifton School pupil, Matthew Meyer was soon firmly installed in Ho’s slipstream.
Danny Marais of Seagulls was snapping at Meyer’s heels as the threesome pulled away from the rest of the big field.
Captain Ho though was in control of the ship as he steered his way past the 400m (3:49), 800m (8:19) and 1 200m (12:28) “hot spots,” setting a pace he knew his rivals had no chance of surpassing.
He was first up on his feet at the slipway and charged up to the timing pads, hotly pursued by Meyer (17:16) and Marais (17:21) with Jordan le Clos in surprise 4th in 18:10, Joshua Dannhauser 6th in 18:13, Brendan Levy 17th in 19:23, James Brooks 48th in 21: 20.