Birkett, Solms unstoppable as they defend their Drak Challenge titles
Duo defend their Drak titles as Mt Edgecombe paddler finishes third.
OVERNIGHT leaders, Andy Birkett and Abby Solms, were in a league of their own throughout the second stage of the 2016 N3TC Drak Challenge as they completed the successful defence of their men’s and women’s titles. Mount Edgecombe’s Jenna Ward showed her class as she finished second in the women’s race.
“I am thrilled to have won it again. It feels special to have been successful in the last few races because I actually gave the race a break because I was having such bad luck on it. My plan was to go hard for 10 or 15 kilometres to try and extend the 10-second lead I had over Hank McGregor,” Birkett said.
“I thought something was wrong because right from the start I was able to suddenly put a lot of time between myself and Hank. It must have been tough for him to even start off, he was feeling that bad.”
Birkett said that he was unfazed by racing the final stage on his own.
“That is something that the Dusi has taught me,” he said. “Most of the time during a Dusi you are on your own, so you have to try and race your own race and monitor yourself. You just get used to it.”
Solms was in unstoppable form, and after shaking off the attention of the other female contenders early on in day one, she relentlessly ground away at the front of the women race and immersed herself impressively in the men’s race.
Solms not only extends her remarkable run at the popular race to six wins in seven starts, but she has a real spring in her step as she sets her sights on the FNB Dusi challenge with her Czech partner, Anna Kožíšková, who arrives in South Africa on Wednesday.
“I can take so much confidence from this result. I feel like my training has gone really well, and the bulk of the training is done. Now we can start to do the Dusi-specific work.”
