Troy Mayers

Speaker & Swimmer

Let Troy inspire you as he takes you on his journey from drug and alcohol addiction to becoming one of South Africa’s most extreme sportsman. He has swum off the shark infested waters of the Natal North and South Coast coming face to face with sharks and other predators. testing himself in the freezing cape waters swimming from Robben Island to Big Bay and 3 Anchor Bay. Eventually swimming a mile through ice in the mountain kingdom of Lesotho which nearly cost him his life.

“We all have the ability to achieve great things; we just need to believe that we can.”

Swimming Events

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Robben Island to Big Bay
This is what I call the official start of my journey. I had prepared for this day for exactly a year. I had swum in Johannesburg through the coldest of winters. I would often wake up early when the temperature was 5 degrees and less and I’d go swim. I just thought, let me make […]
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Ushaka to Umhlanga
This swim had only been done 5 times before. A group of us decided to attempt it in November 2019. The swim starts at the Moyo Pier in Durban and finishes outside the lifesavers hut in Umhlanga. I actually wanted to finish at the Umhlanga lighthouse but there are too many rocks and it would […]
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Ice Mile
I went back to Lesotho in 2019. Obviously a sucker for punishment. This time I decided I wanted to attempt a mile in freezing water. The Lesotho ice swim is arguably one of the hardest ice swims to do. You fighting a war on two fronts, the freezing water (1.6 deg) on the and you’re […]
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40km Keiskamma River Swim
I went with the Madswimmers to swim 40km up and down the Keiskamma river in Hamburg, East London, South Africa. We swam 20km up river the first day and 20km down the next day. Swimming up the Keiskamma river as the sun is setting with Bull Sharks lurking around is an unsettling feeling at best […]
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Ice km
Nothing can prepare you for the pain of getting into freezing water and swimming 1km through a frozen lake in Lesotho. Anyone can swim 1km, not everyone can swim 1km in freezing water. The pain was indescribable; the memories would last a life time. I actually didn’t think it could get any worse than that. […]
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20km Xtreme Swim
Back the next year to do it again. This was even harder than the first year. It was awful. The water was rough and after the first km my goggles broke. I had to rush to the shops buy super glue, fix them and rush back to be in time for the start of the […]
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20km Xtreme Swim
1.609km every hour on the hour for 12 hours. Easy. Well it sounds easy. It’s hard. Actually it’s dreadful. The faster you swim the longer you rest. The longer you rest the colder you get and the harder it is to get back in. This swim was as much a mental challenge as it was […]
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Cape Point
Cape Point is some of the roughest water in the world. The water is crazy. Almost angry. Going out to Diaz Beach we hit a swell so big that when the boat hit the water after being airborne for what seemed like eternity I actually hurt my back. The swim was amazing. The water was […]
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Robben Island to 3 Anchor Bay
A hard 11.5km swim from Robben Island to 3 Anchor Bay. This is not as common as the Robben Island to Big Bay swims. Here you are dealing with strong currents and you end up swimming through the shipping lanes. I got in and the water temp was 12 degrees. This swim was a slog. […]
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Robben Island to Big Bay
I arrived at this swim a little over confident. My first crossing had been manageable, dare I even say easy. I thought this would be a walk in the park. Get in, Get out, go home. The water was freezing, I believe it was 10 degrees. It felt like a lot less and the current […]
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Swimming Buddies.

These guys have joined me on some of my swims and are all accomplished swimmers.  They push me and bring out the best in me and I would like to believe that I have the same effect on them.   We all did the Moyo Pier to Umhlanga swim together and they will always be forever etched in my heart. 

Jarrod Berman, Jason Lemmer, Dawn Smith & Collin Gluch

Gallery

About Troy

Troy Mayers is a thrill seeker who has an impressive CV. This recovering drug addict, who currently has over a 12 years of sobriety, is a former Parabat in the South African army. He’s a former professional cage fighter and submission wrestler. Unfortunately, a broken neck put an end to his fighting career. So this extreme athlete found his thrills by swimming through the icy waters of Cape Town. From Robben Island to Big Bay or 3 Anchor Bay, or the shark infested waters of the Natal North and South  coast. He eventually went on to successfully swim a mile through ice in the mountain kingdom of Lesotho.

 “I didn’t overcome addiction so I can sit and do nothing. I overcame addiction to be a role model to my kids and to show people that there is life and adventure after drugs.”

 I had always been fascinated by those crazy dudes who swam from Robben Island to Big Bay. But I wasn’t a swimmer and hated water, so it was all a bit of a fascination. After I broke my neck I decided to turn that fascination into reality but I needed to learn to swim first. The most I had ever swum was 20 lengths in a 25 meter pool and on the last length I was so exhausted I thought I was going to drown. Now I was training to swim 7.4km’s through the freezing cape waters.

 Come let Troy inspire you as he takes you on his journey from drug and alcohol addiction to swimming from Robben Island to Big Bay and 3 Anchor Bay, he swam from Ushaka to Umhlanga a total of 18km’s through the shark infested waters of KZN in just a speedo cap and goggles, no cage to protect him from any predators and eventually swimming a mile through ice in the mountain kingdom of Lesotho.

 “We all have the ability to achieve great things, we just need to believe that we can.”