By Jaime Uranovsky
On 25 August this year, Karon โKikiโ Marx became the first Jewish South African woman and the fifteenth South African woman to complete the English Channel swim. Kiki, a Johannesburg-based anaesthetist, covered the distance in an impressive 16.5 hours.
For Kiki, this goal has been a long time coming. She recounts, โWhen I was a little girl of six or seven, I told my folks that I was going to do the Channel. But the seed was planted again on 24 November 2013 when I swam my first Robben Island. There was another swimmer next to me and I asked her why sheโs doing the Robben Island swim and she said itโs a training swim for the English Channel and that kind of just replanted the seed of mine from when I was a little kid.โ
From a young age, Kiki swam both for her school and for a private club until her first year of varsity. Then, in 2013, after a 20-year hiatus from swimming, Kiki set the goal of completing the Robben Island swim. She trained for just ten weeks and successfully finished the swim.
Over the last two years, Kikiโs training routine comprised waking up at 3:20 every morning and swimming for two to three hours in the gym before the start of her work day. She also trained a few times a week with her trainer at an outdoor pool. Kiki adds, โIโd go down to Cape Town once a month to do a swim camp with Big Bay Events run by Derrick and Debbie Frazer. That would be at Langebaan and we would swim Sunday night, Monday and Tuesday morning. I did that for ten months.โ
The Channel swim was especially auspicious for Kiki, as it was scheduled for the day after her fiftieth birthday. She says, โIt was a birthday present to myself.โ
While Kiki never doubted that she would complete the swim, the final two hours proved difficult as the current was very strong. She was also disorientated at the end of the route, which Kiki attributes to mild hyperthermia and shock. โI was very proud but very emotional.โ
Kikiโs Judaism is central to her life and accompanied her on her swim: โI davened during the swim for people who are ill and thanked Hashem for giving me a strong body and mind.โ She also credits her strong support structure: โIโm just grateful for the love and support Iโve received from the entire communityโฆ because you can never do these challenges alone.โ
On being asked whatโs next, Kiki says, โIโm going to give myself a bit of time to rest and then Iโll look at what else there is. I think itโs important to have challenges and goals in oneโs life and itโs something to work toward. This was a big one. โฆso, Iโm very grateful that I accomplished itโฆ. I want to continue swimming and weโll see what lies ahead.โ
To download a PDF of the Chronicle for October, click here
To read the editorโs column this month, titled โWhy we need more difficult femalesโ click here
To read the most read story online in September, click here
