Night Swimming at the inaugural Formidables Masters Swimming Championship

The inaugural Formidables Masters Swimming Championship, slated for the 3rd of May 2025 at the Waves Fitness Harbour in Ntinda, will come with an exciting program for the participants and revellers, as it will hold swimming events at night.

The revelation was made by the club’s chairman, Donald Rukare, at the launch of the championship on Wednesday at Waves Fitness Harbour.

“This is the first time we’re hosting this event. We look forward to a successful event. It’s going to be unique in a way that it will also be combining some new features which have not been seen before.

“One will have night swimming. Swimming will begin in the mid-afternoon, going into the evening. So that is going to be one novel feature of this event, but also we are going to have the pool party, so we are trying to tune sports and entertainment.

“A pool party and entertainment and the vibe… It’s not only swimming, but it’s also going to be a party atmosphere, like the carnival and we are hoping that as a club, this will be an annual event. So this is a lovely event,” said Rukare, the Chairman of Formidables.

The club’s inaugural Masters Championship has attracted over 300 local masters swimmers aged 25 to 58 years, from about 10 clubs, notably the hosts Formidables, who have 84 swimmers registered, Dolphins Swim Club Kampala, Sailfish Swim Club, Bank of Uganda, Silverfin Academy, Gators Swim Club and others.

The championship will have competitive events spread across short and long races in all strokes; breaststroke, Butterfly, Backstroke and Freestyle; for both men and women. 

“We will have 25 meters of breaststroke, 25 meters freestyle, 25 meters backstroke and 25 meters butterfly.

“Also, we’re going to be having 50 meters of our freestyle, breaststroke, backstroke and butterfly.

“And then we are going to end it with one hundred meters still of all the four strokes and then one of the most interesting events is going to be our IM, we also have an individual medley of 100 meters; and of course, we shall finish it off with relays,” said Louis Harvey, the Head Coach of Formidables.

“The age categories competing are 25 to 30, then from 30 to 34, then from 35 to 40, like that. It’s going to be a five age difference between the age categories so that the older athletes don’t compete with their younger athletes,” Harvey added.

This event is going to be a preparation for other Masters events like the Sailfish Masters in June, Uganda Aquatics Master Meet 2 in August, World Masters in Singapore in July, and Africa CANA Zone 3 in Kenya in October. 

So, the swimmers taking part in this event will be looking to better their qualifying times for the other events and also get a feel of the competition.

The Male captain of the club, Peter Ssebanakitta, says it’s a privilege for Formidables to host this event and urges as many people from all age groups to come and be a part of the competition and the fun.

“The older people sometimes get a feeling that once you are above 50, that’s the end of your athletics career. But I keep telling people that the way I’m swimming, I think I am swimming much better now than I was in the 20s and 30s. Yes, we are able,” Ssebanakitta said.

‘’Master swimming is not only about swimming and competing. Yes, the competition is very important, and we are all going to be there trying to win, but also swimming, you know, keeps us fit, keeps us busy. We network and all in all, very good for everyone’s health,” he adds.

Kerry Bradshaw, a swimmer who will be competing at this event, is excited to be a part and calls upon all people to come through and enjoy the event.

“We’re encouraging anybody to come during the day to find out more about swimming at our club. Any beginners or experts? You’re all welcome. Come and see what we do. We have training sessions every week for beginners as well. And then please stay after the competition.” 

Though this is the first time the Formidables Swim Club is hosting a masters event, the club has taken part in several other events, including the Kenya Master’s Championship held in Nairobi last year where the club finished 6^th overall out of 15 clubs. 

The Formidable swimmers were also part of the Ugandan team that took part in the 2024 Africa Aquatics Zone 3 Championships that took place in November 2024, at the Piscine Universitaire de Kiriri in Bujumbura, Burundi.

Ugandan captain Linda Namayanja competed in 50m races in breaststroke, freestyle, backstroke and butterfly and for the first time emerged the winners out of 5 other African countries, ie Kenya, Tanzania, Burundi,  South Sudan, bringing the gold trophy home.

Formidable swimmers on this team were Kiwuka, Resty, Nathkimuli, Catherine, Ilamai, Belinda Eleanor, Namayanja, Linda, Kakooza Henry, Rukare Dunstan, Magezi Patrick, Kaganzi Paul Duke, Rukare Donald, Ssebanakitta Peter and Obwana Charles; all of whom will be competing in the inaugural Formidables Master’s Championship. 

The inaugural Formidables Masters Swimming Championship will start at 12 noon and go on till late on 3rd May 2025 at the Waves Fitness Harbour in Ntinda.

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