peninsula-canoe

History was made at the annual Marina 16 canoe race, held on Saturday 09^th April, on Zandvlei and the canals of Marina da Gama and hosted by the local club, Peninsula Canoe Club, when not only was the first craft home a surf ski, but the second as well.

The organizers decided not to split the field into different classes – i.e. K1’s, K2’s and other craft and perhaps on the day, the strong winds which whipped up a lively chop on the vlei (not too bad in the canals) and had running swells, was to the advantage of the longer, sit-on-top skis over the normally faster (on flat water) and lighter K1’s, especially those in the hands of paddlers of the ilk of Rice and Schilperoodt.

ADT, the sponsors of this event for the past 5 years built on their earlier innovative-ness, by allowing the women’s section of the field to start 5 minutes earlier than the men, so as to give them a chance of at least the 1^st Spot Prize of R1000 before the men caught them and they didn’t let the spectators down, with Robyn Kime of the Maties taking the money, closely followed by UCT’s Jackie Barnes and Melanie van Niekerk (Milnerton). On the 2^nd lap, Barnes took the women’s Spot Prize of R1000, Kime having to stop to empty her canoe, the spray deck not being as effective as it could have been, whilst the Ikey took the chance of jumping onto the slips of the chasing men’s second bunch of paddlers, to get away from Kime and van Niekerk.  18 year old van Niekerk stuck to her guns and kept Kime at bay but could not reel-in Barnes who won her first W.C.C.U. event and must be a challenge to Kime who has ruled supreme on local waters these past 2 years that she has been studying at Stellenbosch U.

In the men’s event, it took just 500 m to separate the top 3 paddlers from the rest of the field, when in the strong South Easter wind, they made short work of the downwind dash to the 1^st turning buoy at the northern end of the vlei and then turned on the power to break away in the side-on chop as they raced to enter Thibault Canal, the first of the Marina canals to be negotiated on this 3 lap event. These three – Milnerton’s Lance King, paddling a K1, Sean Rice and Tom Schilperoodt on surf skis – gave chase to the women’s field, but were unable to catch them before the Marina canals were again reached, by which time, King had been worked off the slip and it remained for Rice and Schilperoodt to battle it out to the end, Rice taking the 2^nd (men’s) Hot Spot on his way to winning the overall event with Schilperoodt on his slip as they crossed the finish line.

Notwithstanding the strong wind, some 150 paddlers lined up for the ADT Marina 16, no doubt drawn by the treat of excellent prizes available for the top three paddlers in each racing category as well as the 3 Hot Spot cash prizes of R1000 each, so hat’s off and congratulations to ADT who have really come to make this an excellent event and especially so as it comes early in the season when the various categories are still trying to sort out the pecking order of paddlers.

The season continues on flat water these following 2 weeks with the  W.C.C.U. 10,000m K2 Championships being held at Peninsula Canoe Club, Zandvlei on Tuesday 12^th and the W.C.C.U. 10,000m K1 Championships being held on Wednesday 20^th April at Milnerton Canoe Club before the season moves to the Berg River for that part of the season.

Results – ADT Marina 16, Saturday 9^th April, 2011.

Senior Men

1. Sean Rice – PCC
2. 2. Tom Schilperoodt – PCC
3. Lance King – Milnerton

Senior Women

1. Jackie Barnes – UCT

2.  Melanie van Niekerk – Mil

3.  Robyn Kime – Maties

Junior Men

1. Michael Farringer - Paarl
2. Kenny Rice – PCC
3. Michael Pretorius – Mil

Junior Women

1. Melanie van Niekerk – Mil
2. Marisa Pretorius – Mil

U21 Men

1. Sean Rice – PCC
2. Ivan Kruger – Mil
3. Lance Kime – Maties

U21 Women

1. Jackie Barnes – UCT
2. Robyn Kime - <Maties
3. Tamika Haw – Maties

Sub Veterans - Men

1. Graeme Solomon – PCC
2. Greg van Heerden – Mil
3. Daan du Toit – Mil

Veterans - Men

1. Ian Trautmann – PCC
2. Quentin Miller – PCC
3. Herbert Conradie - Paarl

Sub Veterans/Veterans/Masters – Women

1. Megan Kelly - PCC
2. Robyn Henderson – Mil
3. Romy Findlay

Sub Master – Men

1. Chris de Waal – Mil
2. Eugene van der Westhuizen – Mil
3. Rob Hart – PCC

Masters – Men

1. Paul Lange – PCC
2. Ian Glass – PCC
3. Graham Rowe – PCC

Sub Grandmasters – Men

1. Garth Watters – PCC
2. Shaun Butler – PCC
3. Anthony Penderis – Maties

Grandmasters – Men

1. Enslin van Riet – Mil
2. Rob Maclean – PCC
3. Mike English – PCC

Novice Men

1. Marc Baleta – Maties
2. Alex Topliss
3. Francois Sisam

Novice Boys

1. Dayln Basson – PCC
2. Anders Hart – PCC.

Rob MacLean

Media Liaison - W.C.C.U.