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Seychelles to host Fina open water world cup series in May |06 January 2018

 

 

 

 

Seychelles will have the honour of hosting for the first time, the second of nine series of the Fédération Internationale de Natation Open Water World Cup series 2018.

The 10km marathon swimming competition will be held on May 20 at Beau Vallon. In a signed contract with the Fédération Internationale de Natation (Fina), Seychelles will host a series of the competition every year for the four coming years. Seychellois swimmers are therefore being urged to take part.

It was the Minister for Tourism, Civil Aviation, Ports and Marine, Maurice Loustau-Lalanne who made the announcement in a press conference at the National Sports Council (NCS) boardroom yesterday morning in the presence of members of the press and members of a high level steering committee.

Preparation is well underway and Fina is sending one of its personnel later this month to evaluate the progress made and hold clinics for officials who will be working with the event. Volunteers are being asked to come forward to attend the clinics and to be ready to help during the competition.

Beau Vallon has been chosen as the ideal place for the competition as the weather is expected to be calm during that period of the year and it is the place with more hotels close to the beach. It is also considered as a safe place to swim. Registration fees and other formalities regarding the competition will be announced later.

Seychelles is the first African country chosen by Fina to run a series of such a competition. Swimmers must wear a non-transparent swimwear along with cap and goggles and these equipment should not carry any symbols which may be considered offensive.

Top elite swimmers from many countries worldwide will be in Seychelles for the event and Seychellois swimmers will get the chance to rub shoulders with them. The best male and female Seychellois swimmers will represent Seychelles during the remainder of the series ‒ race three in Setubal, Portugal in June; race four in Balatonfured, Hungary in June, race five in Lac St Jean, Canada in July; race six in Lac Megantic, Canada in August, race seven in Chun’An, China in September, race eight in TPE, Taiwan in September and race nine in Abu Dhabi, UAE in November.

The first race will be held in Doha, Qatar in March.

With Seychelles getting additional visibility via the international press that will be present for the event, Minister Loustau-Lalanne said that on the economic side, the event will surely bear fruit during the four years that Seychelles will be hosting it and the beneficiaries will all be stakeholders in the tourism industry. Apart from the touristic approach, he urged Seychellois swimmers to take part en masse to add flare to the event.

“For us in the tourism industry, it is a good event as it goes well with the Seychelles touristic images and at the same time we want Seychellois swimmers to benefit from a sport that we’ve had a lot of success in and it will also encourage them to practice the sport and stay in good health,” said Minister Loustau-Lalanne.

He also stated that the sports tourism calendar for 2018 will also feature the Eco-Friendly Marathon on Sunday February 25, an international regatta race from May 27 to June 3 and a senior European PGA golf tournament in December.

According to a member of the steering committee David Vidot, who is also the chairman of the Seychelles Swimming Association (SSA), the hosting of the Fina Marathon Swim World Series will amount to R5 million.  The government is keen to see the event become a success and it will through the Seychelles Tourism Board inject R2 million in it.

Mr Vidot has also called on partners in the private sector to help raise the rest of the sum.

“We want the event to be a massive event and we want to see many Seychellois come to swim on that day. This will be an encouragement for Seychellois to practice the sport. We also want the event to impact socially on the community as we urge school children to take part in the competition. This will be a lifetime experience,” he said, stating that there will be shorter distances for those who are not capable of swimming long distances.

He noted that the organisers are targeting to have around 200 Seychellois swimmers for the races.

Speaking about the event’s logistics, Mr Vidot said Fina and the local steering committee will be working in close collaboration, adding that the event in Seychelles will be contested under Fina rules and guidelines.

He said that designated and marked areas and sitting facilities will be made available for spectators coming to watch the swimming competition and for the safety of everyone.

The Fina 10km Marathon Swimming World Cup is a series of 10-kilometre open water swimming races held annually since 2007. Prior to 2007, 10km races were held as part of the Fina's Open Water Grand Prix series; post split, this latter series is now for races over 10 kilometres in length. Points are awarded for each race in the series, with the points being added together for an overall winner. The competition is held in open sea or on lakes.

There were seven marathon swimming series in 2017 and they started in February and ended in October in Hong Kong, China, where despite finishing in seventh position, Simone Ruffini of Italy was the overall winner in the men’s category with 85 points and Arianna Bridi also from Italy was the women’s overall winner with 124 points after coming in first position in the same event in 2h02:12.60. The winner for the men’s race was Rob Muffels from Germany in 1h53:10.40.

The Seychelles high level steering committee is chaired by Vice-President Vincent Meriton and the other members are Tourism, Civil Aviation, Ports and Marine Minister Maurice Loustau-Lalanne; Youth, Sports and Culture Minister Mitcy Larue; sport principal secretary Fabien Palmyre, National Sports Council (NSC) chief executive Giovanna Rousseau; Seychelles Tourism Board (STB) chief executive Sherin Francis; sports special advisor Jean Larue, SSA chairman David Vidot, Ivan Robert and Maureen Payet.

 

P. J.

 

 

 

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