Vanes-Marie du Toit: conquering mountains and world records with the Madswimmers

Published on

21 June 2024

Former Proteas netball player, award winning TV presenter, and overall superstar Vanes-Marie du Toit finally found some time to pop by for a visit. Vanes-Marie is also pushing herself to greater heights and recently found herself up in the Himalayas, conquering mountains and world records.

Breaking records comes with many challenges

On the morning of May 10th, at an altitude of 6,405 meters, the Madswimmer team surpassed the previous record of a high altitude swim of 6,370 meters set by Australian Dan Bull in the Andes Mountains in South America. This means they now hold the highest swim record and it has also shifted to a new continent under challenging conditions. Vanes-Marie told us about some of the challenges on the journey:

The Madswimmer charity was started in 2009 and has since raised millions for children in need. Their beneficiaries include the Red Cross Children’s Hospital, the Adolescent Oncology Unit at Universitas Hospital in Bloemfontein.

Phil de Lange

Phil de Lange is the producer of the Ryan O'Connor Breakfast show and has been with Smile 90.4FM since it's inception in 2013. Through his work on the breakfast show he has won two national radio awards. He has been in broadcasting for 15 years and has honed his talent at 6 different radio stations. Outside of radio he is also a podcast producer and award winning stand-up comedian.