Jenna shines for the north
Local paddler shines at SA Flatwater Marathon Championship winning U23 title (K1) and senior K2 title.
MT EDGECOMBE resident, Jenna Ward, continued her impressive showing in the SA Flatwater Marathon Championship over the weekend. Not only did she win the U23 K1 ladies’ title, she also won the K2 title with partner and Our Lady of Fatima pupil, Kyeta Purchase.
The U23 World Champs bronze medallist obliterated the women’s field, dropping their only serious challengers, fellow Blue Lagoon training cell friends, Hayley Arthur and Donna Tutton, in a powerful final lap surge.
Surfski paddlers made a major impact on the junior racing throughout the weekend. Fish Hoek-based lifesaver, Mark Keeling, paired up with Durban surfski star, Bailey de Fondaumiere, to win the U18 K2 race from the tenacious pair of Luke Criticos and Thomas Lovemore, while the junior girls’ title fell to a dominant Donna Hutton and Cana Peek.
World champions, Hank McGregor and Jasper Mocké, successfully defended their men’s K2 title at the championships at Camps Drift to conclude a thrilling weekend of racing.
After losing a needle-end sprint in the men’s K1 race to Birkett on Saturday, McGregor and Mocké turned up the heat when it counted most to blast away from Birkett and his partner, Greg Louw, in the closing stages of the doubles title decider.
“It feels fantastic to win another South African title and defend the title we won last year. One step at a time – now we can start to focus on going to the world champs to try and defend the world title we won last year. This is the toughest marathon team in the world to earn a place in, and the standard of racing today reflected that,” he concluded.
The two days of marathon racing concluded with the announcement of the teams selected for the Masters Cup and World Marathon Championships in Hungary in September.
