Birkett and Zondi paddle to 50 Miler win
Sbonelo Zondi and Andy Birkett pulled off a stunning victory in the 50 Miler Canoe Marathon recently.
ANDY Birkett and Sbonelo Zondi fired a shot across the bows of serious Dusi title hopefuls with an emphatic victory in the 50 Miler Canoe Marathon, which covers two-thirds of the Dusi course but with a strong emphasis on paddling instead of portaging.
The combination, first cobbled together for their victory in last years Non Stop Dusi, is being widely billed as a Dusi Dream Team, but they have not showed all their cards in the current season until this weekend’s victory over a very strong Dusi field.
They took full advantage of a flurry of mishaps to befall the fancied crew of Hank McGregor and Jasper Mocké to post a three minute victory over former world champion Cam Schoeman and his Czech Republic partner Jakub Adam, with 2013 K1 Dusi champ Lance Kime and Thulani Mbanjwa sealing the last spot on the podium.
“It was such a great race for us in terms of learning and building the partnership,” said Birkett. “On Day One we were not that great in the river but we got better and better and on the final stage we were really much better in the boat. That really is what building a partnership is all about.”
“Eric (Sbonelo Zondi) has a great sense of humour and we laugh and chirp each other a lot during the race, which I love,” he added. “Paddling for me is all about fun. If I am not really enjoying myself then I can’t perform,” said the new Under 23 World Champ.
The thrilling women’s race was won by Abby Adie and Anna Adamová over the gutsy Hillary Bruss and Alex Adie, with the impressive juniors Jenna Ward and Kerry Segal in third. Adie and Adamová finished an impressive sixteenth overall.
“We had around a minute and half in the bank after day one but we knew that Hillary (Bruss) and Alex (Adie) would shoot everything to try and make up time, so we knew that we had to go really hard. To finish with a seven minute lead in the end was really encouraging,” said Abby Adie.
The result is vital to the crew with dreams of winning the Dusi in February because Adamová now flies back to her home in the Czech Republic where she is committed to top level cross-country skiing races. She will return in mid January to resume her Dusi preparations.
SUMMARY OF RESULTS
Men:
1.Andy Birkett/Sbonelo Zondi 4:06:34
2.Cam Schoeman/Jakub Adam 4:10:20
3.Lance Kime/Thulani Mbanjwa 4:11:03
4.David Chaplin/Mark Mulder 4:20:15
5.Jacques Theron/Shaun Griffin 4:22:31
Women:
1.Abby Adie/Anna Adamová 4:40:12
2.Hillary Bruss/Alex Adie 4:47:35
3.Jenna/Ward/Kerry Segal 5:02:38
4.Debbie Germiquet/Carmen Donald 5:03;19
5.Jordan peek/Brittany Petersen 5:05:45
