TYPICAL summer rainfall could not dampen the spirits of one of the largest fields the iconic FNB Surfski Series has seen on Friday evening, as well over 300 paddlers took on either the long course, short course or stand-up paddle boarding race.
Race one winners Hank McGregor and Bridgitte Hartley made it two wins from two at the sharp end of the field at race two’s Funky Pants Surfski Challenge.
McGregor, who has dominated the Marine SLC based series for a number of years, showed his class on Friday as he powered out of the blocks in flat conditions and opened up a significant advantage early in the race, and in typical McGregor fashion, he didn’t let up through the entire eight kilometres.
“I had a fantastic race in conditions that were pretty similar to last week. It was an incredible turn out with over 340 paddlers. I think that everyone who owns a surfski in Durban was on the beach this evening,” the Euro Steel/Epic Kayaks ace mentioned.
The podium was rounded out my Matthew Bouman in second and it was Wade Krieger who managed to win the sprint finish for third with Grant van der Walt having to settle for fourth and the junior Hamish Lovemore coming home in an impressive fifth.
Lovemore’s impressive result would suggest that the Hilton College pupil will be one of the paddlers to look out for at Race 10 of the series, the Varsity College Surfski Challenge and Varsity College SA Schools Championships.
The women’s race was not quite a repeat of race one although the result was the same. Olympic sprint ace Bridgitte Hartley was unstoppable in the flat conditions as she powered home to take the women’s race honours by 50 seconds over the fancied Hayley Nixon.
“I think I might have started a bit too hard and the flat conditions did make the race a bit more difficult but I enjoyed the grind. With less wind and less runs to work with it was quite a slog but luckily for me I managed to find my rhythm on the second lap which helped me maintain that lead to the end,” the Euro Steel star mentioned.
In a change from the opening race of the series, Michelle Burn pipped Kyeta Purchase to the third step of the podium in a sprint finish while Kerry Segal finished the race in fifth.
The doubles race saw the duo of Jason Ekstrand and Richard Lowe getting their first win of the series after they finished second at the first race of the series. They were closely followed by the impressive mixed pair of Jenna Ward and Luke Nisbet. Shaun Dias and Matt Collins were the third double across the line in 10th place overall.
The short course was an interesting tussle as the pair of Justin and Stefan Swart went one better than last week as they took the overall win ahead of Andrew and Sarah Button in second and Emilio and Dominic Chiccaro in third.
Matthew Maroun was once again the first single ski home however he couldn’t replicate his overall win from race one and finished the 4km course in fourth place overall.
Nick Park-Ross continued his good form winning the stand-up paddle board category for the second week in a row with Brandon Read taking second place once again, however the change came in third where Matthew Swemmer took the final podium step – bettering his fourth from race one.
The Daikin Surfski Challenge, Race Three of the 2017 FNB Surfski Series, is at 5.30pm on Friday, 20 January at Marine Surf Lifesaving Club, Addington Beach. Visit: www.marineseries.co.za.
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