1 October 2013
The Durban duo of Hank McGregor and Grant van der Walt claimed a record
fourth successive K2 title in the Hansa Fish River Canoe Marathon on the weekend,
while Abby Adie and Anna Adamova captured the womens’ title.
McGregor and van der Walt started the final day with a lead of over four minutes
over second placed Ben Biggs and Alasdair Glass, and succeeded in maintaining their
advantage throughout the 36km stretch from Knutsford to Cradock.
“We had a faultless day. It was a bit lonely and pretty cold, but we just looked
to keep things conservative and not try be heroes and it all paid off in the end,” said
recently crowned marathon world champion McGregor.
‘I’m very happy’
“Today was probably the best I have ever shot Cradock Weir and after that it
was great to come home to get our fourth win in a row together and my fifth, so I’m
very happy.”
“We had a really good weekend together,”
added van der Walt. “We both weren’t
feeling great coming into the weekend after all the travel [from the World
Championships in Copenhagen back to South Africa] but it was great to be back at
the Fish and the win is obviously great!”
While McGregor and van der Walt ran clear up front, there was a huge battle on
for the remaining podium places.
Biggs and Glass bravely tried their best to hang onto their second place.
However, pre-race title hopefuls Len Jenkins and Greg Louw and the top international
duo of Tobias Bong of Germany and Tomas Slovak of the Czech Republic had other
plans.
Charged through the field
Having charged through the field after starting the day in fifth place, Bong and
Slovak proceeded to storm straight past Jenkins and Louw and into a probable
second place finish, until disaster struck at the notorious Cradock Weir.
“We caught Len and Greg and stayed with them for a while before we managed
to
open up a 30-second lead going into Cradock Weir,” explained Slovak.
“Unfortunately we had some bad luck there though and swam.
“The swim also broke our boat a little, so when we emptied and got going again
we filled up with water all over again, and by the time got to Golf Course Rapid we
were completely underwater and had to stop and empty again.
‘A bit disappointing’
“It’s obviously a bit disappointing, but that’s Cradock Weir, that’s the Hansa Fish
and that’s paddling!” said an upbeat Bong. “We’re still very happy with third place
and maybe if we can practice a bit more we can be back again in two years’ time
and try to challenge Hank and Grant.”
Jenkins, a six-time K1 Fish champion and local lad Louw ultimately claimed the
silver medal after an improved day compared to Friday’s opening stage.
“Yesterday wasn’t the best for us, but we managed to hold it together and Greg
pulled us through,” Jenkins said afterwards.
“It was much better today and man,
what a nice race!”
Having slipped back to fourth, Biggs and Glass then suffered the same misfortune
as their international counterparts at Cradock Weir, which allowed Brandon van der
Walt and Stu MacLaren to go past them and round out the top five finishers.
Ladies’ race
In the ladies’ race, Adie and Adamova showed a clean pair of blades to their
chasers, Robyn Kime and Bridgitte Hartley, as they cruised to a commanding victory.
It was Adie’s second K2 victory in a row after she won the 2011 title with Hilary
Pitchford.
The win was also an ideal 24th birthday present for the Natal Canoe Club star. “I
couldn’t have asked for a better present,” she beamed afterwards. “We managed to
hang onto a good bunch of guys early on and that really helped us.
“This really was a special win because coming into the race I thought it was one
of the toughest fields I have ever had to compete against,
and Anna and I were a
new combination.
‘I knew we would go well’
“Once we paddled together and saw just how well we sat together and combined
I knew we would go well though,” she added.
Adamova, who recently claimed a K2 bronze and K1 silver medal at the Marathon
World Championships in Copenhagen, added a gold medal to her recent successes.
“The past two weeks have been amazing, I would probably rank both Worlds and
Fish on the same level. They have been fantastic,” an ecstatic Adamova said. “Abby
drove so well and she is also my Dusi partner, so I’m very happy to have started our
partnership so well.”
Kime and Hartley won silver with Jenna Ward and Kerry Segal moving up one spot
from their fourth place overnight to claim the bronze medal.
Junior categories
The Juniors Boys’ race saw Louis Hattingh and Bryan le Roux hold off the Wilson
twins, Travis and Tyler, while Jordan and Cana Peek claimed
the junior girls’ title.
Brandon Macleod and his Michaelhouse teammate Alan Houston came from behind the
claim the U16 title.
After a fascinating mixed doubles contest, Cape Town’s Tom Schilperoort and
Samantha Murray claimed the win ahead of the Adie siblings, Alex and Andrew.
Having stormed through the field on day one it was the Burden trio – Nic, Paul
and Colin – who once again reigned supreme in the K3 contest as they overcame the
challenge of Jacques, Jen and Cobie Theron.
SAinfo reporter
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Article source: http://www.southafrica.info/news/sport/canoeing-fish-011013.htm