MIDMAR LEGENDS
Let’s Do It All Again!
Beloved ‘Buthie’ Set for Record 47 th Midmar
Other stalwarts of the event are Mike Pengelly, Martin
Godfrey and Gail Bristow, having each missed only
one year in the event’s long history. Mike has swum
45 officially and one unofficially – he did an unofficial
swim a week before the event one year because he
was representing South Africa in New Zealand in the
World Masters Lifesaving Championships. Meanwhile,
Gail Bristow is currently on 45 official swims, because
her participation in 1974 wasn’t counted, as female
swimmers weren’t allowed to officially enter yet.
This year, Arbuthnot will once again be part of the
throng of thousands who will flock to Midmar Dam
on the weekend on 8-9 February to take part in the
world’s largest open water race. “I keep coming back
as I have done all of them, and would like to continue
that record until my time here is done,” he says from
his home in Howick, just a few kilometres from the
famous dam. “There are a number who are catching
up and are hoping I will give up so they can pass my
record, but I’m hoping that does not happen for now,”
he quips.
Having a Ball
Arbuthnot explains that among the reasons for the
inception of the first ever Midmar Mile was to pay for
a new water polo ball! “I was an avid water polo player
and was part of the Seals team. The Seals Club could
not pay for a new water polo ball, which our team
needed to provide for league games, so that was one
of the motivating factors to start the Midmar Mile – to
raise funds to buy a ball. The Glenwood water polo
players’ team swam that first year and threw the water
polo ball to each other the whole way across!”
“After the first race was so successful, more
swimmers started joining year after year, and now it’s
a big race – the largest open water swim in the world.
There was no electricity in the beginning, so times
had to be done with a stopwatch and written down
by hand. For years the finish would have long queues
of people giving their names while standing in line,
waist deep in the water. Things have changed a lot in
the race, and in the world at large since that inaugural
race in February 1974.”
After the success of the first year, Arbuthnot said
there were a few issues with holding the next one at
Midmar, and there were thoughts of moving the race
to Durban. “The port captain surprisingly said, ‘This is
a commercial shipping port, we can’t have little girlies
flapping around on their lilos.’ So that was the end of
that,” he recalls.
As one of the founders of the event, Buthie was a
driving force behind it in its early days, assisted by his
family and his next door neighbours. “The involvement
initially was very much with my wife and paperwork.
In the first few years, we used to issue certificates to
every swimmer with their name, their time, and their
position, and that was all done manually, so there was
a lot of paperwork. There was a lot of admin done
from home.”
Overcoming Obstacles
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aQuellé Midmar Mile | Worlds Largest Open Water Swim
In later years, the celebrated event founder has faced
some serious ill health, but that’s never kept him from
the dam. His daughter, Tracy Arbuthnot, who will be
swimming alongside her father this year, explains:
“He had colon cancer and a major operation 14 years
ago, and he underwent chemotherapy. He had skin
cancer four years ago. During an operation, he had a
brain aneurysm and nearly died, and he had a stroke
in October 2019. He has been slightly compromised,
however he feels that in the face of all this, it is his
overall swimming health that has seen him overcome
and live such a long and overall healthy life. That, and
a few beers.”
Sure enough, she says her father is raring to go for the
2020 edition of the race. “Tony Bath swims with Dad
every year and has been so kind to ensure he is safe
and on the right direction to the finish line. His father,
Mike Bath, a previous President of Seals Swimming
Club, is one of Dad’s very good friends. My daughter,
Victoria Bax, is doing the race too. She struggles with
dyslexia and swimming Midmar has helped her to feel
a part of something that is positive and healthy. My
brother, Grant Arbuthnot, is also doing Midmar this
year. We felt we wanted to swim with Dad this year, so
the three of us are coming up from Cape Town.”
It turns out swimming has been a life-changing
pursuit for the entire family, she continues. “Dad is
very grateful to his mother, Florence Miller Arbuthnot,
who encouraged his outdoor pursuits. She died when
he was eight years old, and he then lived with his
best friend, Tony Brokensha, and Tony’s aunt and
uncle, Joan and Rowe English. Joan signed Dad up
to become a member of Seals Swimming Club at
age 9, so she started him on this journey. She was
hugely supportive of him and he is forever thankful
for her love, support and guidance. Dad also met his
wife, Yvonne Geyser, at Alexandra Swimming Pool in
Pietermaritzburg. He was swimming for Seals and saw
her at the pool, so swimming and Seals has defined
most of his life.”
Grateful for what the sport has given him and now
looking back 47 years, Buthie says he could not have
imagined what a massive event the aQuelléMidmar
Mile would become. “I’m just thrilled and happy that it
has been such a success, and that it helps to promote
healthy outdoors for many youngsters who are
otherwise sitting on computers indoors.”
W
hile much has changed over 47 years of
aQuellé Midmar Mile history, there has been
one constant throughout, and that’s the
presence of Mike “Buthie” Arbuthnot. The 87-year-old
was one of the founders of the famous race back in
1974, and remains the only swimmer to have officially
swum in the event in every year of its existence.
Furthermore, in 2013, he swam his 79th and 80th
miles, taking him to 80 Midmar Miles at the age of 80,
and at age 87 he is still swimming.