I met Chante when she was 9 years old. From an early age, she showed great potential and passion for swimming.
Being an accomplished age group swimmer, Chante developed a love for Open Water Swimming.
By the age of 14, she was competing in 1km, 3 km, and 5km Open Water events, and because she was too young at the time she took part unofficially in a 10km race.
To her surprise, she won the 10km race with a time of 2 hrs and 35 minutes
At 18, Chante began University and started to focus on her life after swimming.
Fast forward 10 years, Chante has been living and teaching English in Thailand for 7 years and has started to get back into swimming.
She wanted to use swimming as a way to escape her busy work schedule and mundane lifestyle.
Two and half months ago she joined Open Water swimming groups in Thailand and to her surprise, Open Water swimming is big in Thailand.
As she continued to train and gain confidence, her competitive spirit was renewed and she entered the Swimathon, one of Thailand's biggest Open Water events.
Even though Chante is an experienced Open Water swimmer this was the first time she was doing an ocean swim.
Most of her races as an age group swimmer took place in dams in South Africa.
Ocean swims present their challenges. You deal with currents, waves, buoys being far apart, and poor visibility from the sun's glare on the water.
Taking on the challenge of swimming 3km, she only had two and a half months to prepare. In the beginning, she did not follow a strict training schedule but as she got her groove back she sought advice from her childhood coach Hilton Slack.
Coach Hilton Slack sent her workouts that consisted of various drills and skills, speed, and 100, 200, and 400 swims consisting of alternating strokes and rest intervals.
Not expecting much from the race, Chante surprised herself by completing the swim in 53 minutes and placing 2nd in the 15-60 Age Group.
This is a fantastic achievement for someone who has not trained for 11 years. Chante found her passion again and discovered a part of her that has been missing.
The road to getting back into training was challenging but Chante took one day at a time.
She listens to her body, does as much as she can, and believes in herself.
Remember it's not how you start it's how you finish!
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