Windhoek
The second Bank Windhoek long course gala takes place at the Olympia municipal pool this weekend.
To date, a total of 115 swimmers have entered this gala with a considerable total of 830 individual entries. In action will be the talented Daniela Lindemeier in the 50m, 100m and 200m breaststroke.
Despite looming exams, Commonwealth junior swimmers Zanre Oberholzer and Sonja Adelaar will also take to the water. Other notable swimmers to take part are Alexander Skinner, Nicolai Flemming, Bernard Theron and Armin Oberholster. Top juniors are Heleni Stergiadis, Zune Weber, Joanne Liebenberg, Ronan Wantenaar, Corne le Roux and Rene Viljoen.
Tomorrow sees the following events on the programme: 400m freestyle, 200m breaststroke, 100m backstroke, 100m freestyle and 200m butterfly.
On Saturday there will be longer distances and short sprints such as the 1 500m freestyle, 50m butterfly, 50m breaststroke, 200m backstroke, 50m freestyle, 100m breaststroke and 400m individual medley.
This is one of the last three galas in which the swimmers will be able to qualify for the Bank Windhoek Nationals, which will take place in February 2016. The gala starts tomorrow at 15h00 and 09h00 on Saturday.
Bank Windhoek has sponsored the Namibia Swimming Union (NASU) with N$110 000 to host the series with the ultimate goal of developing the sport and grooming swimmers to compete at national and international level.
After this weekend’s gala, upcoming dates are as follows:
1. 27-28 November 2015 – Long Course Gala 3
2. 29-30 January 2016 – Long Course Gala 4
3. 25-27 February 2016 – Namibia National Long Course Championships
4. 1 April 2016 – Long Course Gala 5
NASU, which has been operating since the 1950s, is an affiliate of the Namibian Sport Commission (NSC) and the Namibian Olympic Committee (NNOC), and internationally of the International Swimming Federation (FINA) and the African Swimming Federation (CANA).