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SWARTLAND DAY 2 RACE REPORT |
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Written by Mark Torrington
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Monday, 15 June 2009 |
Day 2 of the 2009 Swartland Marathon, started very differently to Day 1, with it being dry, although with a strong hint of rain in the air. Paddlers travelling out from Cape Town for day 2 of the marathon, reported having come through heavy falls, but it remained surprisingly dry on the Berg River through Day 2 and although there was a cold North Westerly wind blowing, the sun even made its appearance for the prize giving, held at Bridgetown after the event was over and the final paddler home.
he winner on both Day 1 and Day 2, Hank McGregor (KZN), the Berg River champion of 2008 and 4 times before that, used the 'Swartland Canoe Marathon' as training experience to build on his distance prior to the S.A. Canoe Marathon Championships being held in 2 weeks time and as well as 'look-see', training-run for the 2009 Berg River Canoe Marathon being held from 15th to 18th July, when he will be defending his crown and going for his 6th win - 6 titles being something no other paddler has done in the 47 year history of this great event.
Winning by over 6 minutes on Day 1 of the Swartland, McGregor was content to play second fiddle in Day 2 of the marathon, allowing young U23 paddler, Stellenbosch's Pierre-Andre Rabie to virtually be his 'river guide' for the day, coming home with Rabie on his slip, so and taking the line honours by a mere whisker, to wrap up the championship position of the 2009 Swartland K1 Canoe Marathon.
Following another well-controlled, rolling start at Zonquasdrift, McGregor and Rabie got away with a big bunch in tow the narrow river - others attaching to them being the likes of Ernest van Riet (Stellenbosch), Edgar Boehm (jnr) (Peninsula), Nick Longley (Peninsula), Cornelius Human (OUT) and Dane Sanvido (Stellenbosch), and it stayed this way until the inevitable, serious tree blocks were reached after about 30 minutes of paddling. Here, with the leading bunch forced to paddle one behind the other to get through some of the obstacles, Rabie managed to make a break and get away from the chasing bunch when he was first into and out of a massive tree block. The trailing bunch gave chase and McGregor, at one stage lying in about 5th position, worked his way through the field until he broke from them and caught Rabie approximately 6 kilometres from Gouda Bridge, one of the few check points in the race where spectators can get a good view of the passing paddlers. Trailing them at this stage, but approximately 300 hundreds meters behind, were van Riet, Longley and Boehm. Van Riet, like McGregor, also having made up the gap to reel in the other two after having suffered a nightmare portage over one of the many tree blocks in the 'forest' between Zonquasdrift and Gouda Bridge.
But from Gouda Bridge onwards to the end at Bridgetown, some 28 kilometres later, no paddler made any ground on the two up front (in fact, they lost time) and with Rabie taking his senior partner through most of the tricky, congested channels, McGregor was content to play' follow-the-leader' before sharing the 'pull' on the flat sections. And so it was that the pair reached the finish line at Bridgetown in just over 3 and a half hours, McGregor winning by mere 100ths of a second over Rabie to an overall win of the marathon. In the meantime, van Riet, with Longley, had broken from the 2nd bunch (consisting of himself, Boehm, Longley and Human), to paddle the final 40 minutes together, for van Riet to record a 3rd place overall. Longley, although in 4th place on Day 2, by virtue of being off the pace on Day 1, was overtaken in the final leaderboard by Edgar Boehm (jnr), who came in 4th overall, Longley taking the 5th position.
Robyn Kime (Stellenbosch), convincingly won the women's section on Day 2 in 9th position - an excellent showing (despite a short swim under the Train Bridge) and she wrapped up the overall women's title for the 2009 Swartland by coming 9th overall, when her times for both days were calculated to be over 50 minutes ahead of the 2nd woman paddler, Robyn Henderson (Milnerton), who paddled a steady race throughout both days, she having been 2nd at the overnight stop. Jemma Hofmeyer (Peninsula), who by her own admission, had a 'mare' on Day 1, put it together on Day 2 to come home as the 3rd women paddler and in a time that leap-frogged her past Day 1's 3rd woman finisher, Lisa Scott (Milnerton), so moving her up to 3rd position overall in the marathon.
The U23 section of the race changed from Day 1 of the event, with Pierre-Andre Rabie being 1st, Dane Sanvido 2nd and Robyn Kime 3rd, to make it a clean sweep for the Stellenbosch Canoe Club.
Paarl Canoe Club's Junior Development paddlers came home 1,2 and 3 as they did on Day 1 of the event, Joseph Williams winning, Diviano Pietersen in 2nd and Emile Pienaar in 3rd place.
Peninsula Canoe Club, ably led by Chairman, Mark Torrington, are to be congratulated on a well-run event, despite the miserable weather on Day1 - but such weather is expected in a Cape winter, it so was taken in their strides - the officials, organizers, all 100 plus paddlers alike, who were involved with or who raced the marathon. Many of these competitors will be going on to compete in the 2009 Berg River Canoe Marathon and this event, the 2009 Swartland K1 Canoe Marathon, will have given them valuable insight into what can be expected in the longer event. Seconds and supporters are also to be praised for their input, cheering on paddlers whilst being drenched in the freezing Cape rain on Day 1 and wrapped-up warmly on Day 2 to escape the icy N.W. wind that was blowing across the wheat fields of the SWARTLAND!
To all the paddlers, organizers, officials, seconds and spectators, congratulations one-and-all for making the 2009 Swartland K1 Canoe Marathon an exciting, memorable and worthwhile event (and not forgetting the Tannies of the Swartland for supplying wonderfully delicious meals throughout) - an event that is a benefit to and that has established an important place in the Western Cape Canoe Union and it's annual canoe racing calendar.
Rob MacLean
Media Liaison - W.C.C.U. |
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 04 February 2010 )
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