Numerous time improvements have been seen and done by the TuksSwimmers and is really exciting to see the hard work of the swimmers and coaches pay off.

Roland Schoeman, coached by Head Coach, Igor Omletchenko swam a new African record in the 50m butterfly and helped the 4x100m freestyle team to a 5^th place finish in a new African Record.

Tim Ferris, who has been working hard with Steven Ball for the last 18 months, was rewarded with PB’s in the 100m and 50m Breaststroke and in the process also broke the Zimbabwe national records. Similarly Maxine Heard also improved the Zimbabwean Record, more importantly though she dropped her PB by 4 seconds in the 100m Breastroke event. Moira Fraser and Kirsten Lapham also recorded Personal Bests in their individual races so far.

Quinton Du Pont set a new Swazi Record in the 50m fly and Thabang Moeketsane set PB’s in the 100m and 50m breaststroke.

The above spent lots of time at the TuksSwimming Academy and Club as well as the hpc/ Olympic Traing Centre (OTC). But Tuks and the hpc OTC were also hosts to swimmers who did their final preparations in Pretoria. Jade Howard (Zambia) and Daniella Lindemeier (Namibia) were part of that group who spent 6 weeks in Pretoria. Jade incredibly dropped 6 seconds off her best 100m-backstroke time, from a 1:17 to a 1:11. Daniella broke the Namibia Record in the 100m breaststroke. That record had stood since 1982! Ironically the very man who coached the previous record holder also laid the foundations for Daniella’s record. Daniella’s entry time into the Worlds was a 1:15;87. It now stands at 1:13;90. But it gets better. Her halfway split was a 34;09 – also a new Namibian Record.

Daniella’s improvements are due to the work done by Larry Laursen who consults to Tuks Swimming. In April this year he started to consulting to Daniella and handing over to Pretoria based coach, Steven Ball for the final 6 weeks of preparation, which has ended in phenomenal results, with her now having broken all the womens Namibian national breaststroke records at this meet.

TuksSwimmers (Present members, visitors and Ex-members) competing at this meet include:

Present:

• Roland Schoeman (South Africa)
• Gregory Widmer (Switzerland)
• Darren Murray (South Africa)
• Thabang Moketsane (South Africa)
• William Diering (South Africa)
• Pina Ercolano (Kenya)
• Monica Bernardo (Mozambique)
• Moira Fraser (Zimbabwe)
• Maxine Heard (Zimbabawe)
• Tim Ferris (Zimbabawe)
• Kirsten Lapham (Zimbabawe)
• Quinton Du Pont (Swaziland)

Visiting Swimmers:

• Daniella Lindemeier (Namibia)
• Jade Howard (Zambia)
• Melimo (Zambia)
• Mark Thompson (Zambia)

Past (Ex-Members):

• Lyndon Ferns (South Africa)
• Cameron VD Burgh (South Africa)
• Alex Ray (Namibia)
• Leonel Matonse (Mozambique)
• Gerusio Matonse (Mozambique)
• Rony Bakale (Congo)