Action at the 2010 Halfway Telkom Midmar Mile began before eight o'clock on Saturday morning when Terence Parkin, the most successful athlete in the history of the Deaflympics, set off on an epic record attempt aimed at raising funds for the Saint Vincent School for the Deaf.

A member of the Eight-Mile club, which raises money for charity, Parkin began his day from the finish, swimming to the start for the beginning of event number one. From that point he joined in the race, on his way to swimming 16 miles over the course of the weekend. His aim included trying to swim each race in less than 25 minutes, a feat Midmar Mile veterans would agree is an excellent effort in a single event. A full wrap on Parkin's achievement will follow later in the week.

For many the highlight of the eight races that make up the Midmar Mile, event one includes the various disabled categories and the Ironman and Ironwoman competitions.

Craig Groenewald won the event for the 13th time in 13 attempts, pulling away near the end from former winner of the men's 13 to 30 race Gareth Fowler to cross the finishing line in 22:42.

Fowler finished in 23:15, five seconds ahead of his great friend Terence Parkin. Together with Ryk Neethling, Fowler is the only three-time men's winner in the 37-year history of the Midmar Mile. Now a doctor, he doesn't have the opportunity to train as much as he would like to, but, he said: "This event has given me so much and I want to give it something back by coming back each year to support it."

Gary Shea was the first of the Ironman finishers in fourth place.

South African Paralympic star Shireen Sapiro placed in the top 10, stopping the clock in exactly 26 minutes.

Crowd favourite Chad Gifford, who has no lower limbs, slightly improved on his time of 2009, finishing in 34:40. His first Midmar Mile, last year, was swum after a mix-up in arrangements for another event, but now, he says, he loves the race. Three friends from Johannesburg accompanied Gifford to swim and support his efforts.

Adri Visser, a three-time winner of the Courage Trophy, completed her swim in less than 40 minutes.

Roy Rees, at a sprightly 86-years-of-age was the oldest male finisher.

Shaun Dias, the winner of the men's title in 2008, put in a strong and relaxed swim to easily win the Company Relay in 21:32, despite choppy conditions. Thandu Thusi placed second, but with Dias' brothers, Gareth and Paul, finishing third and sixth respectively, Dias and Sons romped to an easy victory.

They finished almost 11 minutes clear of second-placed Mr Price, with Swim Styles taking third, half-a-minute further off the pace.

German stars Christian Reichert and race newcomer Alex Studzinski, swimming for Team International, left the rest of the field in their wakes in the Non-Company Relay. In the final 400 metres, Studzinski pulled four seconds clear of Reichert, the fourth place finisher in the men's race in 2009, to take the win in 20:05. Wesley Gilchrist of USN Spike was the third-placed finisher.

With Tyrone Venter, who had swum 25 kilometres on Friday, finishing seventh, Team International were convincing winners of the event and the two Germans sounded a warning to South Africa's big guns Riaan Schoeman and Chad Ho, who weren't in action. That's not to forget the threat of Great Britain star David Davies, the fastest ever entrant for the Midmar Mile over 1 500 metres, with a time 16 seconds faster than Ryk Neethling's South African record.

Team International's combined time was 1:01:37, with USN Spike second in 1:03:12, and Varsity College third in 1:11:07.

There were 3 009 finishers in the event, slightly off the world record 3 110 finishers, which was established in 2009. Included among them was 86-year-old Lorna Cochran, the oldest female finisher of all. A total of 3 526 people had entered the race.

Event four, the Family Relay, saw the Dias family record another comfortable victory and in so doing become the first team to win both the Company Relay and the Family Relay. Shaun led his brother Gareth and Justin Pienaar across the finishing line in 22:19, after another relaxed looking effort. The third member of the team Dias team, Paul, took fifth.

"It means a lot to swim with my brothers," said Shaun Dias afterwards. "This year (the victory) was easier (than last year)."

The Fair family finished in second-place, almost 10 minutes behind the winners, with the Mower family, former winners of the event and the toughest competition for the Dias family in recent years, ending in third.