Payne fights hard for record-breaking Midmar Mile victory
13th February 2012
Keri-anne Payne came through a marathon battle to clinch her record-breaking seventh consecutive title at the 2012 Midmar Mile.
The World 10km Champion was held stroke for stroke by USA’s World Championships 5km bronze medallist Ashley Twichell as the pair battled choppy conditions in South Africa.
It was a really good swim - really quite tough actually.
Payne ultimately pulled clear at 1600m and took gold in 20:44, two seconds ahead of her American rival and admitted she was happy to have been pushed hard in her traditional early season test.
“It was a really good swim – really quite tough actually,” said Payne, who will now turn her attention to qualifying for the Olympic pool events at the British Gas Swimming Championships.
“Ashley was swimming very well so I tried to keep it as easy as I could for as long as I could and then, at the end, I thought I would pick it up.”
There was further success for the British Gas GBR Open Water team in South Africa as Danielle Hall-Jackson completed the podium with bronze.
The City of Leeds swimmer finished in 21:03 ahead of British teammates Kayleigh Dawson (22:17) and Lucy Charles (22:28) in fourth and seventh respectively.
Meanwhile, Myles Crouch-Anderson impressed in a strong men’s field to finish 13th overall.
