A record number of about 100 long distance swimmers are to tackle the icy waters between Robben Island and Bloubergstrand on South Africa’s Freedom Day in the “Cadiz Vista Nova Freedom Swim.”

Robben Island’s Chief Executive Officer Paul Langa, said the island’s management had endorsed the race as it would contribute to promoting public awareness of the apartheid-era penal colony as a World Heritage site.

The event on 27 April will be well monitored and all parties, including swimmers, will be fully briefed to ensure compliance with environmental imperatives set in the Robben Island Museum Integrated Conservation Management Plan.

The 7.5km race began as an annual fund raising event six years ago by Vista Nova School, the largest school for children with learning disabilities and Cerebral Palsy in the Western Cape.

A sponsorship deal struck last year between the school and the Cadiz Financial Strategy Group came at an opportune time as funding had been inconsistent.

Cadiz CEO Ram Barkai said the intention was to raise the event into one of the world’s greatest ocean swims.

“We intend to link the swim to the symbolism and history that is characteristic of Robben Island. We have chosen April 27, Freedom Day and have called it the Freedom Swim for this very reason.

“Robben Island is one of South Africa’s most important symbols to the triumph of the human spirit over adversity. It is this ideal that the swimmers will embrace in their quest to complete this Challenge,” he said.

Freedom Day has been commemorated annualy on 27 April since 1995, as a South African public holiday in remembrance of the country’s first democratic elections on 27 April 1994.

Many of the politicians and freedom fighters who enabled the country to reach the point of democracy were inmates on Robben Island, including South Africa’s first democratically elected President Nelson Mandela, who spent 18 of his 27 years in prison there.

The race will be swum in two groups of 50 swimmers who will start from Murray Beach on Robben Island, 20 minutes apart.

First, second and third overall male and female participants will receive cash prizes of R5 000, R2 000 and R1 000 each respectively.

The first relay team to cross the finish line will receive R5 000.

South Africa’s top long distance swimmers are expected to compete in this year’s race, including previous winners Natalie du Toit and Steve Klugman.

They will face frigid water of between 11 and 14 degrees Celsius, strong currents and the potential presence of Great White Sharks, for which that portion of the Atlantic Ocean is known.

Race officials, medical staff and emergency personnel will work together to ensure swimmers are closely monitored. In addition to individuals, relay teams may also enter. Competitors must be seconded by a motorised boat.

Swimmers may not wear wetsuits and may not make physical contact with any person or boat during the race.

Less than 300 swimmers have crossed since Henry Charteris Hooper swam from Robben Island to old Cape Town harbour in 1909 in six hours and 56 minutes.