Sophie Edington of Australia picked up six gold medals at the 2007 Telkom National Aquatic Championships, which ended at the Kings Park pool in Durban on Sunday night.
She took both the 100m and 50m freestyle medals, the 50m butterfly, and the 50m, 100m and 200m backstroke races in her stride — with the South African title, of course, being reserved for those who finished second in their respective races.
Twice Melissa Corfe of KwaZulu-Natal fell into this category and in one event — the 200m freestyle — she pipped the Aussie swimmer to the touch.
Edington was on the winner’s podium on three occasions on Sunday night as she first picked up the women’s 100m freestyle in a time of 56,49 seconds with Corfe in second place on 56,97 and Karin Prinsloo (Northern Tigers) third on 57,99.
Then she claimed the women’s 50m butterfly in 27,66 seconds as Mandy Loots was pegged back into second place in a race in which she originally had her sights set on a fourth South African record at these championships.
The others had been set by Wendy Trott of Western Province in the women’s 400m freestyle at 4:12,87, Suzaan van Biljon in the women’s 200m individual medley, and Jessica Pengelly of Western Province in Sunday night’s women’s 400m individual medley.
For the second time in just more than a month, Pengelly bettered this record with a 4:43,76 finish after having lowered the time to 4:44,77 at a South African Age Group gala in East London.
Second on Sunday night was former South African record holder Kathryn Meaklim of KwaZulu-Natal in 4:51,43 and Karlier van Heerden of Northern Tigers in 4:53,32.
Other multiple gold medallists were Gerhard Zandberg of Northern Tigers, Wendy Trott of Western Province, Riaan Schoeman of KwaZulu-Natal, George du Rand of Free State and Suzaan van Biljon of Northern Tigers. Schoeman won four golds and the others three apiece.
Others who were dual winners included Mandy Loots of Central Gauteng and Cameron van den Burg (Northern Tigers)
And as this championship drew to a close, a special word must be reserved for a most plucky and courageous competitor in Andri Visser from Central Gauteng.
Swimming in the multi-disability events, she never had a chance of winning because of her physical disabilities. But she never gave up trying and was cheered home to the finish by an appreciative crowd every time she entered the pool. — Sapa