North Durban paddlers shine in successful year for Canoeing South Africa
Four local athletes Michelle Burn (Glen Anil), sisters, Saskia and Valma Jean Hockly (Mount Moreland) and Jenna Nisbet (Mount Edgecombe) were a part of that success.
WHILE the Covid-19 pandemic continued to batter the international paddling calendar, Canoeing South Africa recently reflected on the year of abnormal global calendar with satisfaction, having crowned five new world champions and managing to field athletes at nine different world championship events.
Some of those champions included residents, Michelle Burn (Glen Anil), sisters, Saskia and Valma Jean Hockly (Mount Moreland) and Jenna Nisbet (Mount Edgecombe).
The South African team that was present at the ICF Ocean Racing World Championships in Lanzarote were the country’s best achievers this year with an unprecedented with six medals at the surfski title deciders.
Nick Notten won the senior men’s race, Michelle Burn won the senior women’s race, Uli Hart was crowned the U23 men’s champion while Jade Wilson won the U23 women’s title and Saskia Hockly and her younger sister Valmajean won gold and bronze respectively in the junior women’s race.
Team South Africa also gave a strong showing at the ICF Canoe Marathon World Championships with four bronze medals to show for their efforts, improving on the disappointments of China in 2019.
Saskia Hockly won bronze in the junior women’s K1 race in her first marathon world championships, Uli Hart came third in the U23 men’s race while Christie Mackenzie won bronze in the U23 women’s race. Jenna Nisbet and Saskia Hockly the won the bronze in the senior women’s K2 race.
Reflecting on the 2021 results, President of Canoeing South Africa Kim Pople was happy with how the year went despite the obvious challenges.
“An incredible amount of hard work went on behind the scenes to get the teams to travel, and our sincere thanks and gratitude to the team managers Janet Simpkins, Jodie Dreyer, Brandon van der Walt and Colin Simpkins for their hours of dedication to achieve this. As we look forward to 2022, planning has already begun, as we are not naïve to think that Covid will not continue to disrupt planning and travel.”
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