Alwyn Uys became the first paraplegic in the world to swim from Robben Island to Bloubergstrand in Cape Town, South Africa.
In December 2014, Uys nearly died when he was involved in a motor vehicle crash, and became paralysed from the waist down. He would never have considered attempting this swim or completing the Ironman before his crash, he said. Pugh was the 50th person to ever complete the Robben Island to Bloubergstrand swim, at the age of 17, in 1987. “You can now, on a good day, get 50 people doing it – it’s become that popular,” says Pugh.
Alwyn Uys became the first paraplegic South African to complete the Robben Island to Bloubergstrand swim on Friday, 11 December 2020. For Uys to safely attempt the swim – without risking hyperthermia – the water temperature needed to be higher than 15“The water temperature was 16C when we jumped in, which was absolutely fantastic. It was a little bit of an overcast morning and there was no real wind,” he said.
“When we started, [Uys] was swimming at about one minute 50 seconds per hundred metre, which is really good for him,” said Jansen.“I thought I’d be okay, but there was a strong current and I had to fight against [it] the whole time,” said Uys. The side-on current forced him to swim further than expected.
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