Durban paddlers determined to place at world champs
Durban-based paddlers are aiming for podium finishes in their races at the ICF Canoe Marathon World Championships.
JENNA Ward and Kyeta Purchase are hoping to bring home medals from the 2016 ICF Canoe Marathon World Championships which takes place from 16 to 18 September in Brandenburg, Germany.
The Durban-based pair have every intention of racing onto the podium this weekend, if not in fact winning their respective U23 Women’s and Junior Women’s K1 clashes outright.
“No one goes to a world championships not wanting to win! I definitely want to do better than the two U23 bronzes I’ve won at the past two worlds, but the main aim is most definitely gold! Kyeta is also so incredibly talented and having gone to worlds for the first time last year and finished fourth without any experience – I just can’t see any other junior girl in the world being faster than her,” said Euro Steel’s Ward.
Both Ward and Purchase – together with Team SA K1 senior woman competitor, Nicole Russell – are members of respected coach and legendary masters marathon competitor Lee McGregor’s MACSquad which trains at Blue Lagoon and believe their build-up has been perfect.
“Training has gone extremely well for us and it has been amazing having such a great group of girls on the water every single day, pushing each other as hard as we possibly can while still knowing we’ll all be racing in different age groups at worlds. Having Hank (McGregor) and Lee on the water every evening has also been great because they just set the standard for everyone else,” explained Ward.
Ward draws added comfort from Germany and South Africa sharing the same time zone as well as the double U23 bronze medallist having experienced the Brandenburg course once previously.
While their respective K1 events remain their top priority, Ward and Purchase’s combination in the senior women’s K2 clash is another element of the trip the pair are looking forward to.
“We’re definitely focusing on our K1 races first and foremost. What is nice as far as our K2 race goes though is that both Kyeta’s and my K1 race is on the Friday, giving us all of Saturday to recover before we race K2 together on Sunday. We’ve spent a lot of time together in a K2 over the past 18 months or so and really combine well together in the boat. We got a fifth in the same race last year in Hungary so it would be great to better that this time around and if all can go well for us on the day then perhaps we could even podium,” said Ward.
