11 May 2023
At the recent CANA (African Swimming Confederation) Zone IV Championships, held in Luanda, Angola, Clifton College’s Damien Angel won the 5km open water race. It was a successful defence of the CANA Zone IV title he had won in 2022 in Zambia.
“I was very happy with that. I was hoping to keep my title and I was glad to do that,” he told Pinnacle Schools at the Kings Park Aquatic Centre ahead of a two-hour training session on Wednesday.
Damien’s open water swimming successes have begun to draw interest from universities, but whether he will study locally or abroad is not yet determined, he said: “At the moment, I’m in grade 11, and I’m looking at universities, like Tuks or Stellenbosch. But I have had agents come talk to me about going to America. On my way to training, my mom received an email from an agent, trying to get me to go to America, so we are still trying to decide.”
Despite excelling over long distances in open water swimming, Damien hasn’t been participating in those disciplines for that long. “I don’t know how I got into the long distances. I just remember the one time going up to Midmar and swimming the Capital K, which is a qualifier for the Midmar Mile. That was about three years ago, when I started open water swimming. I qualified for SA Nationals, and I have now gone to the SA Nationals for the past three years,” he said.
Damien’s primary school years were spent at Crawford College La Lucia, and he began swimming training there with Carol du Toit of Action Swim Academy in grade two. He stayed with her for eight years, but about a year ago moved to renowned coach Alistair Hatfield, who is also with the Action Swim Academy.
Choosing Clifton
Damien said he chose to continue his high schooling at Clifton because he wanted to experience an all-boys’ environment and a greater focus on sport. His dad had been a good cricketer and Damien moved to Clifton intending to continue along that path. It didn’t work out like that at all. He started playing water polo and now no longer plays cricket. But he is a member of Clifton’s highly-respected 1st water polo team.
Swimming, however, comes first. As he explained: “I know I am not going to play water polo for South Africa. They know there is no point in messing up my swimming for water polo. I enjoy playing water polo, because swimming is quite a lonely sport. To have that team aspect is nice.”
His goals with swimming, though, are set much higher: “Hopefully, one day I would like to go to the Olympics, and all the big competitions,” Damien said.
At the Olympics, the 10km is the big open water event, while the Fina World Championships include both the 5km and the 10km. South Africa, of course, has enjoyed World Championships medal-winning success in the shorter distance previously, with Chad Ho, a Westville old boy, capturing bronze in Rome in 2009 and gold in Kazan in 2015.
5km or 10km?
So, which is Damien’s preferred distance, we wondered? He replied: “I have done three 10ks. I have done two here in KZN, and one at Nationals in March, and then I have done quite a few 5ks. I enjoy both of them. I would say I have probably done better in the 5km, because I have represented South Africa twice in the 5km and done well at SA Champs.
“When I start doing more and have more experience of the 10km, that’s the race that’s more recognised.”
At some of the major events, each country is allocated only one place in the field. That means you have to be number one in your nation, and that would mean, for Damien, he would have to qualify ahead of one of his training partner’s, two-time aQuellé Midmar Mile champion and a national champion in both the 5km and 10km, Old Cliftonian Connor Buck.
Damien said his love for open water swimming began in the ocean because he also does lifesaving as a sport. A lot of open water training is done in the pool. At other times, he swims in the sea.
“Every now and then I do ocean swims, like the Dolphin Mile. I have done the last two Dolphin Miles, then I also do a Durban Underwater Club league swim quite often. In March, I did the 25 piers, which is swimming around North Beach Pier 25 times,” he said.
Strangely enough, considering its status as the world’s largest open water swim, it was only in 2019 that Damien swam the aQuellé Midmar Mile for the first time. His parents had previously swum it, but he had never wanted to do it. “I was actually scared,” he revealed. “I had always been a swimmer, but I was scared to do it. I eventually did my first one. Since then, I have done three. In the last two, I was invited to swim in the main race. That’s definitely a race that I enjoy.”
One of the bigger challenges when swimming open water events, like the Midmar Mile, is staying on course. Often, for the top swimmers, that has been the difference between winning and placing in the event. With experience, he has got used to that now, Damien said, although he recalled swimming a 3km event at Midmar where he and a group of swimmers ended up in the yachts to the right of the finishing slipway. The winner had taken the right line.
“At Midmar, you need to look out for the big white tent on the bank. It is very difficult,” he said.
“You don’t really know where you’re going until you get close to the end. You just swim.”
Heavy training schedule
You just swim… So, what does it take to be one of the leading open water swimmers in South Africa?
Damien detailed a typical week: “We train Monday, Tuesday and Thursday for two sessions – two hours in the morning and two hours in the afternoon. Mornings are from 05:30 to 07:30, and then I head to school. In the afternoons, I train from 16:00 to 18:00, and then on Wednesday and Friday just in the afternoon, and then a morning session on Saturday.”
That is a huge commitment, and from his family, too. There is little opportunity to waste time. “You have to be very disciplined, and I have got into a routine that flows now,” he said.
Open water swimming is a lonely pursuit, but it’s one he loves, Damien concluded: “I go to a different world. I really like that. It’s peaceful.”
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