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31/01/2008 11:34 AM - (SA) Hundreds expected at Mile swim 010208
Brian Curtis was a passionate swimmer who died tragically in a motorcycle accident 10 years ago. At the time, he was one of the Western Cape's top breaststroke swimmers and was in line for South African masters swimming colours. Curtis was a founding member of what is now the Cadiz Financial Strategy Group and after his death, his colleagues Ram Barkai and John Green launched the Brian Curtis Mile to keep his memory alive. In addition to the mile swim, organisers have introduced a longer 3 km event for the first time this year. The swim has also become an annual outing for swimmers' families and spectators who spend the day picnicking on the dam s picturesque banks surrounded by forests and mountains. As part of the efforts to include the whole family, a 200 m contest for children is also held annually. Various prominent Cape swimmers, including Hester Snyman and Chris Donnelly, volunteer each year to help make the event, now a milestone on the SA swimming calendar, a success. "Brian had an incredible passion for life and for swimming. The aim of the Brian Curtis Mile is to spread this passion to the broader public and to attract not only the country's top swimmers but also ordinary South Africans keen to join this growing sport," said Barkai, who is CEO of Cadiz and himself a keen long distance swimmer. Barkai said swimming had "injected new life" into Curtis after he contracted hepatitis B on a holiday to the Maldives in 1995. "We coaxed him back into the pool during his recovery and he soon become on of the top breaststroke swimmers in our club. "His passion was incredible and it is this characteristic which has permeated the Brian Curtis Mile. "Ten years later it is one of most popular events on the Western Cape swimming calendar," said Barkai. For more details, visit the Brian Curtis Mile link at www.cadiz.co.za.
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