Van der Walt and Hartley crowned king and queen of the Bay
Brandon van der Walt and Bridgette Hartley recorded wins in the respective men's and women's categories of the Bay Union Surfski Series.
FOLLOWING a week’s delay, the 2017 Bay Union King of the Bay took place on Sunday as Brandon van der Walt and South African sprint star Bridgette Hartley, recorded wins in the respective men’s and women’s categories.
In what appeared to be a very different men’s field from the usual Bay Union Surfski Series races, Brandon van der Walt returned to KwaZulu-Natal on a spontaneous trip to take the overall honours ahead of marathon racing star Andy Birkett in second and the young Hamish Lovemore in third.
In the men’s race it was always going to be a competitive field with the likes of Matt Bouman, Van der Walt’s brother Grant and Wade Krieger on the start line and with defending champion Hank McGregor absent the title chase was definitely going to be a tough one.
A spontaneous trip to Durban meant that Nelo Surfski/Jantext Paddles’ van der Walt threw his name into the King of the Bay ring. With such a competitive field in such flat conditions made the victory slightly sweeter for Van der Walt.
The benign conditions gave the flat-water specialists a fighting chance and Olympic bronze medallist Bridgitte Hartley took advantage of the flat water off the East Coast of South Africa to take a maiden King of the Bay title.
Hartley had her work cut out for her throughout but after she put a bit of pressure on Hayley Nixon she was able to get ahead and take a deserving victory.
The race for third was an exciting affair as young Kyeta Purchase and Jenna Ward had a sprint up the beach, a race that was won by Purchase.
In the doubles action it was Jason Ekstrand and Callam Davis took the overall honours ahead of Donna Tutton and Shaun Bergin with Bruce and Juston Wenke coming home in third. The short course also provided an exciting finish with Joshua Giddings pipping Irvin Dixon to the line to take the honours with Steve Evans and Greg Bennett finishing in third.
Kimon dos Santos was the fastest stand-up paddleboarder in the race as he beat off race one winner Matt Swemmer while it was Shayne Chipps who finished in third.
Race Three of the Bay Union Surfski Challenge, Bay Union Doubles Surfski Challenge, is coming up on Thursday, 25 May.
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