Aditi Dhumatkar creates history, becomes first Indian woman to swim 5000 metres within an hour

Khar Gymkhana swimmers pose for the cameras(L-R: Monique Gandhi, Aditi Dhumatkar, Akanksha Vora and Kanchi Desai)

17 February 2014, Mumbai: Over the weekend, Khar Gymkhana hosted one of the biggest swimming galas in the city, the 8th Swim Marathon, with swimmers from over 40 clubs affiliated with the Greater Mumbai Amateur Aquatic Association participating across four freestyle time-trial events. Male and female participants between the age group of 8 to 18 competed in the pool to claim new meet records and set themselves apart in four categories – 500 metres, 2000 metres, 4000 metres and 5000 metres. The event conceptualized by the Club’s chief coach Mr. Subodh Danke, is one of the few swimming galas in the country that are a test of endurance.

Khar Gymkhana’s swimmers continued to shine as the winner of three national and six state records Aditi Dhumatkar broke her last year’s women’s 5000 metre freestyle meet record of 1:01:21.00 hours by two whole minutes, finishing the event in 59:52:00 minutes. In setting the record she also became the first woman swimmer in India to finish the distance in under an hour. The runner-up at the event Kanchi Desai from Otters’ ended with a timing of 1:01:29.00 hours. In the men’s category Otters’ Vedant Rao, with a timing of 1:01:23.00 hours, claimed the first position.

With meet records being broken at almost every event, these two days promised to be nothing short of exciting. Ozone’s Kapil Shetty (U-10) was first to set a new meet record, completing his 2000 metre freestyle in 27:53:59, on Day 1 of the event, breaking the record set in year one of the meet by Karan Jaising by over a minute. While Matunga Gymkhana’s Akanksha Shah (U-10) clocking a time of 28:38:09, missed breaking the meet record set by Otter’s Akanksha Vohra’s meet record from 2008 of 28:37:78. Ozone dominated the 4000 metre freestyle (U-12) as the club’s swimmer emerged in the first and second positions – Vinit Mane ended on top with a timing of 54:47.13 minutes.

Swimming in her home pool, Khar Gymkhana’s Vedika Makhija (U-12) finished the Girls’ 4000 metre freestyle, with a timing of 56:51.46 minutes, putting her in the lead. As the day progressed, Ronak Sawant (U-8) from PSP, was declared the winner, swimming the 500 metre Freestyle in 7:52.19 minutes; he fell seconds short of meeting the meet record of 7:45.09 minutes created by Khar Gymkhana’s Aryan Makhija in 2008. CSMSS took up all three positions at the Girls’ 500 metre Freestyle (U-8) with Kiara Bangera winning the first position with a timing of 8:56.18 minutes.

As the 2-day event moved on to its second day, the excitement at the Swim Marathon reached new levels as swimmers broke their own records and created history. Aryan Makhija (U-14) took the home club to new heights as he emerged victorious in the 5000 metre Freestyle with a record time of 58:08.59 minutes, beating his own meet record from 2013, of 1:00:41.69 hours. Monique Gandhi’s (U-14) 5000 metre Freestyle Girls’ meet record of 1:02:21.00 hours, created in 2012, remained unbroken as her fellow club-mate Protiti Sinha completed the stretch in 1:08:16.21 hours and took the lead position.

Otters’ Ishaan Jaffer (U-16) occupied the first position in the 5000 metre Freestyle as he completed the swim in 1:01:26.00 hours. The Girls’ (U-16) 5000 metre Freestyle saw a closely contested match between Khar Gymkhana’s Monique Gandhi and Otters’ Akanksha Vora who finished with a few milliseconds of each other. Previous year’s meet record holder with a timing of 1:00:58.28 hours, Monique finished this year’s event with a timing of 1:01:47.62 hours leaving Akanksha behind by a narrow margin as she finished with a timing of 1:01:47.74 hours.

With winners from across all the categories going home with gift vouchers from Speedo, commenting on the event, Dominic Vijay, Head of Marketing Speedo India said, “Our association with events such as these are a part of our global commitment towards building and encouraging strong swimming communities. We are also pleased at the level of competition at this event and look at platform such as these to identify talent that could be supported by Speedo in the future. The weekend has definitely put on our radar, swimmers who have the potential to represent the sport internationally.”

“When I conceptualized the event, I was working towards building a strong open water swim community and believe that these tests of endurance will help us identify candidates for the team. This weekend, I can confidently say that we have indeed identified candidates with high endurance levels, who would be able to conquer the open seas,” opined Mr. Subodh Danke, Chief Coach at Khar Gymkhana.