Publications
Partners
- The 16-year-old Amber-Rose Berry became the youngest female to swim the False Bay crossing.
- The teen took on the 33 km swim from Millers Point to Rooi Els on Sunday 3 December, and finished it in 9 hours and 40 minutes.
- She completed the Cape to Robben Island crossing twice and says her sights are set on the English Channel.
At the age of five Amber-Rose Berry went for swimming lessons but could not get herself to put her face under water. Fast forward to today, the now 16-year-old Berry became the youngest female to swim the False Bay crossing.
The teen took on the 33 km swim from Millers Point to Rooi Els on Sunday 3 December, and finished it in 9 hours and 40 minutes.
Last year, Johannesburg teen Kyle Stephens (16) became the youngest person to complete the crossing.
Berry, a lifeguard at Clifton Surf Lifesaving Club, explains that she was meant to do the swim in 2020 but it was called off due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
An elated Berry says the experience still feels surreal.
“It has been my goal since 2020. I always told myself I was meant for more than just swimming laps in a pool.
“I never thought I would do it during high school. I always thought I would finish school first. “But when the opportunity came to do it now, I couldn’t say no. It’s an amazing sense of achievement.”
The Grade 10 learner at Rhenish Girls’ High School took on this mammoth task amid writing exams.
“This happened during exams. It kept me in a good routine of writing in the morning, studying in the afternoon and swimming in the evening. I was only meant to do the swim in three weeks’ time. My date got moved forward, so I missed out on a large chunk of training.”
Berry is no stranger to swimming long distances. She completed the Cape to Robben Island crossing twice, with the first at the age of 13. This open-water and adventure swimmer says her sights are set on the English Channel.
“This was to prove to myself that there is so much more out there, and this is just the start of the ultra-marathon swims that I am trying to do in the future.”
She explains that she hopes to have her achievement recorded as a Guinness World Record.
Berry says that being in the water for nine hours was mentally exhausting, but she was determined to finish the adventure.
“Not letting doubt creep in, staying in the water and resisting the temptation to get out was difficult at first. But when the mountains in front of me started to look bigger than the mountains behind me, I knew I was more than halfway there. It is so rewarding.”
According to Berry, finding a rhythm she was comfortable with, was challenging.
“With this being my first 10 km+ swim, I didn’t have a good idea of how to pace it. If I went too fast, I would burn out, and if too slow, I would get cold. Luckily, I managed to hold a consistent and strong stroke and even pulled out a little sprint at the end.”
She shares some advice with others hoping to follow similar goals.
Set yourself small goals to focus on in your training. Every few weeks try to swim a bit further than before until eventually you are swimming more than your big swim’s distance over a week in training. These swims take months of dedicated preparation and keeping a balance is the best way not to lose motivation.”
Rika Kroon, Acting Principal at Rhenish, wrote in a Facebook post: “Completing this ultra-marathon swimming challenge is something we at Rhenish Girls’ High School are very proud of. We look forward to Amber-Rose’s future achievements in aquatic sports.”
Berry’s mother, Karen, says her daughter has always been dedicated and determined.
“In about 11 and a half years, she went from not getting her face in the water to putting her face in the water for nearly 10 hours.”
The mother explains that she is proud of her daughter’s achievement.
“I can’t describe how proud I am. She is so determined in the things that she wants to do.”
