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Jetty Mile part of Pupkewitz’s legacy

The late Harold Pupkewitz, an avid swimmer himself, supported the sport over many years culminating in the popular annual Jetty Mile becoming the Pupkewitz Jetty Mile. This swim event tests endurance and aptitude as the swell often upsets even experienced open-water swimmers. Here  Pupkewitz sets off the swimming hopefuls at last year’s event.

The late Harold Pupkewitz, an avid swimmer himself, supported the sport over many years culminating in the popular annual Jetty Mile becoming the Pupkewitz Jetty Mile. This swim event tests endurance and aptitude as the swell often upsets even experienced open-water swimmers. Here Pupkewitz sets off the swimming hopefuls at last year’s event.

Now in its 5th year, the Pupkewitz Jetty Mile swimming event, will take place in Swakopmund on 27 December bringing together a group of fearless swimmers seeking for thrill.
The annual holiday event attracted over 200 swimmers that will swim from the Tiger Reef Beach Bar, past the Jetty to the Mole, a distance close to a mile long.
According to organisers of the event, Otb Sport, the number of participants has increased over the years. “We expect around 200 people to show up and that is a tremendous growth seeing that we only started with 50 participants back in 2007.”
A wetsuit is recommended for all participants as the water temperature is usually cold at this time of the year. “Swimmers will need to get past the breakers into the open water. The current is on the side of the swimmer but the water can be very rough.”
For the less confident sea swimmers there will be a sprint event in the more protected waters of the Mole. The distance is approximately 600m and again wetsuits are recommended due to cold sea temperatures.
N$24,000 in prizes is up for grabs and the first overall male and female winner in the Jetty Mile will  each win N$1000.
There are also additional prizes for positions in the age categories and in the sprint event as well as lucky draw prizes. The Pupkewitz Jetty Mile is part of Harold Pupkewitz’s legacy.
The event was won last year by siblings Florian and Silja Hentzen. They will be in contention again this year with the intention of making it two wins in a row. Boris Kulikowski was a mere 2 seconds behind Florian in 2011, and after years of competing Boris is hungry to get the title.

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