Formidables Swim Club, the hosts of the inaugural Formidables Masters Gala, were crowned overall winners of the event after they collected a combined total of 4,085.50 points across both genders. Ambrosoli Sailfish Masters with 1,909 points, followed in second place, Malta Adults 1,644 points in third, Dolphins Masters 1,091 points in fourth and Makerere University Swim Team 953 points in fifth.
In the different categories for the men and women, still Formibables Swim Club led from the front, getting 1,529 points for the women and 2,556.50 pts for the men. In the women’s category, Malta Adults and Ambrosoli Sailfish Masters followed in second and third place with 913 and 797 points respectively. As Ambrosoli Sailfish Masters with 1,112 points came second in the men and with 764 points, Makerere University Swim Team came in third.
The competition, which had about 180 swimmers from 7 women’s swim clubs and 10 men’s swim clubs, was held at the 25M swimming pool at Waves Harbour in Ntinda, Kampala.
Swimmers competed in 25m, 50m and 100m events in breaststroke, freestyle, backstroke and butterfly, with most events swum after 6 pm to get the night swimming experience that made this particular gala unique.
Though it was a fun gala, the swimmers did not hold back as they all fought for a spot on the podium in all their events. Freestyle had the most standout performances from both the men and women with Formidables’ Ismail Munaaba (14.57 seconds) topping the Men’s 45-49 25 SC Meter Freestyle, beating his seeding time of 30:62 secs. Yuda Ssekamatte (14.09 seconds) in the Men’s 35-39 25 SC Meter Freestyle also beat his seed time of 15:34 secs. Joshua Finch made 12:81 in the Men’s 30-34 25 SC Meter Freestyle while Arnold Kisulo recorded 13.32 seconds in the men’s 25-29 25 SC Meter Freestyle.
Meanwhile, Pumla Nabacwa (17.90 seconds) and Lindah Namayanja (19.84 seconds) were the standouts in the Women 35-39 25 SC Meter Freestyle. Shaminah Kulabako (17.73 seconds) topped the Women 30-34 25 SC Meter Freestyle while Racheal Sarah Galinda (16.86 seconds) dominated the Women 25-29 25 SC Meter Freestyle.
The entire gala competition was concentrated more in the 25-45 age groups because the swimming age groups from 45 and above didn’t have as many swimmers. Case in point, Formidables club captain Peter Ssebanakitta was the only swimmer in the 60 and above age group.
Commenting about the event and experience, several swimmers expressed that being a part of this gala was really about participating in an adult sport and less about the competition.
“Most people learn to swim when they are already adults, others maybe have swum already during school, but at the event everybody comes together and it’s really nice to have everyone give their best and compete and get medals and have fun,” said one of the swimmers.
Joshua Finch, one of the first-time master’s swimmers, was very ecstatic about his experience. “This is an insane, epic, enthusiastic and super competitive championship. It’s my first time competing as a masters swimmer overall and then also my first time in Uganda. There’s so much culture. There are so many vibes. There are so many people screaming, shouting.
“I’ve won 6 gold medals so far, enjoyed each and every race, the pool is amazing, and the medals’ uniqueness is so intriguing; they are made out of glass.”
Pumla Nabacwa, who was exceptional in the women’s category, topping almost all her events, said; “It’s been so great. It’s really just a way for us to get out of the cycle of, you know, work and taking care of children, dropping kids at school and hustling, looking for money and going to the bar to drink. This gives us an opportunity to get together as adults. It’s like an adult sport and it’s just fun and it’s not real competition. But the medals do help.”
Formidables’ Club Captain Peter Ssebanakitta was grateful for the success of the event and the turnout. “We wanted to make it a little bit unique; a gala that is held partly during the day and partly during the night and we wanted to enlarge the theme, not to be about swimming only! But swimming and having fun. That’s why we put the pool party! For swimmers and non-swimmers to attend.”
After a successful inaugural event, Formidables is now planning for the second one to come next year and which they say will be bigger and better.